


Team Avatar

by thedude25



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, F/F, Gen, Super Team, but they're minor characters, eventual Korrasami, some OCs
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-19
Updated: 2017-05-17
Packaged: 2018-04-15 15:33:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 28,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4612041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedude25/pseuds/thedude25
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the discovery that Hiroshi Sato had been selling military-grade weapons to Republic City's triads, Asami decided she needed to fix her father's mistakes. Calling herself Tempest, she patrols the crime-infested city, trying to restore it to what it once was. However, everything changes when a new hero, calling herself the Avatar, arrives in Republic City.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Enter the Avatar Pt. 1

_ Raava stirred. It had been almost fifteen hundred years since she had last awoken, but now He was returning. It was time for her to find a new vessel. The world needed the Avatar once more… _

_ Five years later… _

**Asami**

Tempest made her way across the Cave, reaching her command center before falling heavily on the large office chair. She removed her cowl, letting her long black hair fall around her shoulders. The motion made her cringe in pain, and she brought a hand down to the left side of her abdomen.  _ Probably cracked a couple of ribs _ , she thought.

Earlier that evening, she had gone out to stop what she had been told was a random shake-up by some low-level Agni Kais. Instead, she ran into what turned out to be a large operation, involving some of the Triad’s major players. She had been able to do some damage and temporarily incapacitate at least four high-level Agni Kais, but had to retreat when one of the gunmen got lucky and nailed her twice in her midsection with what had to be, judging by the amount of pain she was in, a very large gun.

More troubling than her injuries at the moment was the fact that her information had been wrong. Her informant had assured her that this was something she could easily handled on her own, which obviously wasn’t the case. This left one of two possibilities: Her informant had bad information or he had betrayed her. Both seemed unlikely. On the one hand, Kazuo had been Asami’s inside man in the Agni Kais nearly two years, and his information had always been reliable. On the other, if she had been set up for an ambush, it had been a pretty crappy attempt. She had definitely caught the gangsters by surprise, not to mention that her attack put many of the triad’s higher-ups at risk, even if Asami had eventually been overwhelmed. It just wasn’t adding up.

Determined to get some answers, Asami pulled out her communicator and placed a call to Kazuo. After the fourth ring she heard some fumbling at the other end of the line, followed by a half-asleep, slightly nasal voice. “Tempest, my favorite cape! How’s it going, gorgeous?”

Asami groaned inwardly. Kazuo was a (usually) dependable source, but the fact that he invariably hit on her every time they talked made speaking to him a chore. “Not great, Kazuo. That thing tonight you tipped me off about? It didn’t exactly pan out.”

“What, the guys didn’t show or something?” he said with a yawn.

“Quite the opposite, actually. A lot of Agni Kais were there. Including Zolt.” Asami heard as Kazuo presumably dropped his phone in surprise. She waited for a while as he picked it up and answered, now sounding wide awake.

“Holy  _ shit _ . Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I did catch two bullets to the chest, so if nothing else this was a good field test for the new body armor. But the real question here is how and why you got your intel wrong.” She added an edge to her voice, making it clear what she was implying.

“Listen Tempest, I had nothing to do with that, I swear,” Kazuo replied, sounding panicked.

Asami considered this for a few moments. Kazuo had not sounded surprised to hear from her, which he would have if she was supposed to be dead by now. Not to mention the fact that the shock in his voice sounded genuine, and the first thing he had done after hearing of Zolt’s involvement was to ask for her well-being rather than cover his own ass. “I believe you,” she said, finally.

“Really?” Kazuo asked, relief evident in his voice.

“Really. You’ve been one of my best sources for a long time. I’m willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.”

“Awesome. The last thing I need right now is a pissed off super out for my head. So if Zolt was there why are you not crispy-fried right now?”

“Smoke bombs. Choked him out before he could work up any good lightning mojo. Unfortunately, I didn’t have enough for all his friends,” Asami explained.

“You know, you’re pretty smart. Which begs the question, why didn’t you get the hell out of there when you saw him!?” Kazuo yelled, forcing Asami to hold the communicator six inches away from her ear.

“Hey, if you get a chance to take out Lightning Bolt Zolt, you gotta take it,” Asami replied with a smirk.

“You’re insane!”

Asami had to laugh at that. “I’ve been dressing up at night to go out and beat the crap out of criminals for two years and you’re just figuring that out now?”

“Still, that doesn’t mean you should be suicidal!”

Asami sighed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. Listen, I gotta go get my injuries looked at. Let me know if you have anything else for me.”

“Will do.”

“Oh, and Kazuo?”

“Yeah?”

“Next time, double-check to make sure you got the damn intel right.”

“Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later.” Asami heard a click on the other end as the line went dead. She placed the communicator back in its place on her belt and then went about removing the upper part of her suit. Once all the armor was out of the way, she lifted up the tank top she was wearing underneath to assess the damage. Her entire torso seemed to be one blotch of angry purple and red.

Groaning, she pressed a button on her computer, opening communication to the mansion above her. “Wen?” she called.

Several moments later, a response came through the speakers. “Yes, Miss Sato?”

“I’m down in the Cave. Things tonight went a little south and well...bring plenty of water.”

“Right away, ma’am.”

Asami leaned back on her chair, forcing herself to relax while Wen made his way to her. With a dead mother and a mostly absent father, the family butler had been the closest thing Asami had to a parent for most of her life. And after her father’s very public arrest and imprisonment three years ago, their bond had only grown stronger. So, naturally, when Asami decided to put on her mask for the first time and personally sort out the mess her father made, Wen had been the first to know.

Asami was startled out of her meditation when she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She swiveled around to see Wen walking towards her, carrying a large basin filled with water. He set the basin on the floor beside the chair and crouched to examine Asami’s injury. He gingerly placed a palm against Asami’s abdomen and closed his eyes in concentration.

“Fortunately, Ms. Sato, most of the damage appears to be superficial,” Wen asserted. “This will only require a few minutes.” He dipped his hands into the water beside him and when he removed them from the basin, some of the water came with them and began to glow the tell-tale glow of healing water. Asami felt some of the pain instantly fade away as soon as the water made contact with her skin. She sat back and relaxed as Wen did his work.

At first glance, one would never peg Wen as a waterbender. He had the fair skin and name that told of his father’s Earth Kingdom heritage, but up close one could see he inherited his blue eyes from his Water Tribe mother. And while the range of his skills were limited--he could only manipulate whatever water he was in direct contact with--his healing abilities had made him an invaluable asset during his days in the United Forces, and again once Asami had taken up her new… hobby.

True to his word, after a only a couple of minutes Wen removed his hands, and Asami saw that the affected area had faded to the purplish yellow of a days-old bruise. “I’m afraid that’s all I can do for now, Ms. Sato. You might still be a bit tender, so I would advise against any overly strenuous activity for the next couple of days.”

Asami felt a small smile tug at the corners of her lips. Like a concerned father, Wen never failed to tell her to take it easy, even though he knew his advice would be ignored. “I’ll take it into consideration,” she said.

“Very well,” Wen replied as he stood, taking the basin with him. “Will there be anything else, ma’am?”

“Not for now, Wen, thanks. I’m just going to wrap some things up down here and I’ll be up in a few minutes.”

“Shall I prepare some tea in the meantime?”

“That would be great, Wen. Jasmine, please.”

“Of course.” With a small bow, Wen turned on his heel and and made his way back up to the Sato estate.

Asami turned her chair back to her computer and booted it up. She opened the program that allowed her to check on the status of the different safe-houses she kept around the city for her and her team. She noticed the Boat, her safe-house on the docks was showing activity, which meant Wildfire and Landslide were probably back from their patrol.

She had met the brothers during her first month as as superhero. After a few run-ins while trying to take down the same targets, they decided to form a loose alliance, to try and stay out of each others’ way more than anything. However, after a few months of working together, they ended up forming a more solid relationship, often calling on each other for backup, and became an official team when they trusted each other enough to reveal their identities. It also helped that Asami offered them free use of her numerous safe-houses.

She placed a call to the Boat and after a few rings, Wildfire’s familiar face appeared on the screen. “Hi Mako,” Asami greeted. She always found it funny that someone as cool-headed and stoic as Mako would have a name like “Wildfire” but when she asked him about it, back when they were together, he had just shrugged and said his brother had picked the names.

“Hey Asami. Just got in?” he asked.

“About ten minutes ago. Had a run-in with some Agni Kais. What about you?” She decided to omit Zolt’s involvement for the time being. Mako was sweet, but he could be overprotective and patronizing when he felt Asami was taking unnecessary risks. It was part of the reason they had broken up a while back, but the fact that they were no longer a couple hadn’t deterred that particularly annoying habit. Still, they both felt they worked better as friends.

“We’ve been here a while. Bolin’s in the kitchen making us some food.”

“Did you run into any trouble tonight?”

Mako shrugged. “A mugging and a Red Monsoon shake-down. Nothing we couldn’t handle.”

“Anything big to report?”

“Nothing from our end, the Red Monsoons were just thugs, they didn’t know jack about anything their bosses were up to. But there is something.”

“What is it?” Asami asked. By Mako’s tone, it was something big.

“A video hit the internet about half an hour ago. Apparently, there’s a new player in town.” Asami saw Mako type something into his own computer and a few seconds later, an internet link appeared on her screen. She clicked on it. “It was filmed by some drunk kid on his phone. I think he was just coming out of a nightclub or something.”

It certainly showed. The video quality was pretty good. It was probably one of her company’s higher end phones, Asami thought smugly. Still, the kid couldn’t seem to keep the camera steady for more than a couple of seconds. The image showed a woman in a blue outfit and mask. That, combined with her dark skin told Asami she was probably Water Tribe. She was being circled by three annoyingly familiar shapes. “She’s taking on the Triple Threat? She’s got guts, I’ll give her that.”

The Triple Threat were a trio of self-proclaimed supervillains. They were three benders and each one could bend a different element: water, earth and fire. They didn’t have the same raw power as Mako or Bolin, but the three of them together were still a considerable threat.

The waterbender stepped up first. He bent water from a nearby fountain, freezing it into ice shards and throwing them at the woman. She quickly sidestepped a couple of them before raising her hands and stopping the rest in mid-air.  _ Definitely Water Tribe _ , Asami thought.

“A waterbender, huh? Republic City hasn’t had a waterbending super in a while.” Unless she counted the Wolfbat. And nobody counted that showboating asshole.

“Just keep watching,” Mako said.

The woman melted the ice shards, forming a water whip with them, which she then wrapped around the waterbender’s leg. She then used the whip to yank him up and slam him against the wall of a nearby building. The waterbender was out for the count. “She’s pretty impressive,” Asami commented.

The earthbender stepped up next. He started launching chunks of pavement at the woman, who just took more water from the fountain and used it to form a protective ice wall in front of her. The earthbender’s assault was relentless, however, and it seemed that the wall wouldn’t hold out much longer. When it seemed the the woman’s protection was about to give out, some of the earthbender’s own ammunition curved around and nailed him hard in the stomach. Asami looked on, her mouth slightly agape. “Did she just earthbend?” she asked incredulously.

“Oh don’t worry, it gets better,” Mako replied.

After a few more hits from the same rocks he had previously launched at the woman, the earthbender joined his partner sprawled on the floor. The last member of the Triple Threat, the firebender, stepped in, intending to finish what the other two couldn’t. He launched a large fireball at the woman, who moved her hands much in the way she had seen Mako do several times, dissipating the fireball before it even got close to her. “And now she’s firebending. Of course she is,” Asami muttered. She wondered if the mystery woman could airbend as well.

The woman lost no time in retaliating with fire blasts of her own, instantly putting the firebender on the defensive. It was clear that he was outmatched, however, and soon the last of the Triple Threats was taken down. The kid with the phone stumbled up to the woman, all the while giving cries of “holy shit” and “what the fuck”. Once he reached her, he lifted his phone, trying to focus the camera on the woman’s face.

“That was  _ awesome _ ,” he slurred. “Who are you?”

The woman smirked. “I’m the Avatar.” And with that, the video ended.

“So what do you think?” Mako asked.

“Well, I’m sure glad she appears to be on our side,” Asami replied.

“But what about her abilities? Have you ever heard of someone bending more than one element?”

Asami thought for a moment. She seemed to recall rumors of an extremely powerful bender, who had helped the Southern Water Tribe win their war with the North after years of being constantly on the verge of defeat. Rumor had it, that particular bender could bend all four elements. Still, she took it all as war propaganda, but now there was definitive proof that a person like that existed. And she  _ did _ look Water Tribe. Then there was the particular name she had used: “the Avatar”. It sounded vaguely familiar to Asami. “I think maybe I have. I never believed it until now, though. I’ll look into this, put some feelers out.”

“Alright, then. I’ll let you go get some sleep. It looks like you could use it. Later, Asami.”

“Bye, Mako.” Asami disconnected the call. She slowly stood, going over what she just saw. As she made her way up to the stairs to her estate, the woman in the video would not leave her mind.  _ The Avatar. Who the hell is she? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, people.
> 
> So this isn't my first fic ever, but it is my first multi-chapter undertaking so we'll see how that goes. This idea's been rattling around in my head for a while and I finally decided to write it down. So enjoy, leave a comment (they make me happy), and leave kudos if you feel they're merited.


	2. Enter the Avatar Pt. 2

**Korra**

The shrill ringing of the alarm clock startled Korra out of a deep sleep. Without moving her face from where it lay buried in her pillow, she brought up an arm and slammed it down on the alarm clock, silencing it. “The morning… is…  _ evil _ ,” she groaned into her pillow. Reluctantly, she got up from her bed and stumbled into the bathroom.

_ Stupid Tenzin, making me go in so friggin’ early on a friggin’ Saturday.  _ She undressed and stepped into the shower, still trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes. The water did wonders to wake her up though, and by the time she stepped out Korra was wide awake. She used a little waterbending to quickly dry herself off before wrapping a towel around herself and setting out into her room to find some clean clothes.

Korra searched through the piles of laundry that she totally meant to do a couple of days ago for something that was passable for a professional work environment. First, she pulled an underwear set from her rapidly depleting clean drawer. She then quickly found some pants and put them on. She was in the process of looking for a shirt that seemed acceptable when her roommate woke up. “What time is it?” she mumbled sleepily.

Korra glanced at her alarm clock. “About six thirty,” she replied. “Go back to sleep, Opal.”

“Why the hell are you up so early?”

Korra sighed. “I have to be at City Hall by eight. The mayor has this important meeting with some corporate bigwig and he wants me there.”

“That sucks,” Opal said. “Well, have a good day.” She rolled over and promptly fell asleep again . Korra finished dressing and with a last envious look at Opal’s peacefully sleeping form, made her way out of her dorm.

Korra made good time in getting to City Hall, arriving at half past seven. It was a near-miracle actually, considering the ungodly mess that was Republic City’s public transportation system. Korra thought, not for the first time, that she should really look into getting a car. And driving lessons for that matter. Still, arriving with half an hour to spare meant she had plenty of time to get some breakfast from the building’s cafeteria.

She made her way there and stood in front of the counter, her eyes skimming over the menu. There really wasn’t much to choose from, and she was feeling nostalgic for home, so she settled on some seaweed noodles.

Since it was so early in the morning, the cafeteria was nearly empty, except for another couple of interns who were engaged in a heated conversation. Korra decided to sit near them, to listen in on their talk.

“I’m telling you, there’s no way Tempest could take on the Avatar! She can bend at least three elements and all Tempest has is lightningbending. And she can barely extended past her hands!”

“Yeah, but Tempest has experience! She’s taken on ten guys at a time. Plus, she’s got back-up from what’s-their-face… Wildfire and Landslide.”

“You can’t bring other people into this, that’s not fair! We’re talking about a straight-up fight between the Avatar and Tempest, and I’m telling you, the Avatar would win!”

Korra sat back, grinning. Ever since her internet debut a few weeks ago it seemed the entire city was talking about her. Now they were actually sizing her up against Tempest! If Korra were in private (and if she didn’t have a rep to maintain) she’d be freaking the hell out. Tempest was one of her biggest heroes.

After a while, Korra noticed that the two guys had moved on to other topics, so she focused on choking back her noodles. They were cheap, rubbery, and tasted suspiciously like someone had taken regular wheat noodles and dyed them green. She reminded herself to look for somewhere in the city that had authentic Southern food.

Her disappointing breakfast over with, Korra made her way through City Hall to Tenzin’s office, where she was told by his secretary Tenzin was waiting for her in Conference Room 2. On the other side of the building. Twenty feet from the cafeteria. Great.

Groaning, Korra turned on her heel and went back the way she came. By the time she made it back to Conference Room 2, she burst in to find Tenzin sitting down in front what had to be the representative from Future Industries. She was… not what Korra expected.

When Tenzin told her they’d be meeting with a corporate executive, Korra had immediately pictured some fat, middle-aged man, not what was, frankly, a gorgeous woman close to Korra’s own age.  _ Unless she has some really good anti-aging cream _ , she thought.

“Ah Korra, you’re here,” Tenzin said. “Ms. Sato, this is Korra Sikku, one of my brightest interns. She’ll be taking the minutes of this meeting, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.” The woman smiled at Korra, and she felt her stomach do a backflip.

_ Jeez Korra, calm the fuck down. Keep it in your pants! _

“Korra, this is Asami Sato, CEO of Future Industries,” Tenzin continued.

Korra needed a few moments to shake off this new information. This woman, who was  _ at the absolute most _ a couple of years older than her, was already running her own multinational corporation. That was beyond impressive. Remembering how to interact with humans, Korra walked up to the CEO and held out her hand. “Pleasure to meet you, Ms. Sato.”

“Likewise,” she replied. “And please, call me Asami.”

Tenzin cleared his throat and signaled to a seat between him and Asami, at the head of the table, already prepared with paper and a pen. Korra sat down and cracked her knuckles, mentally preparing for the hand cramp that would inevitably result from this meeting.

“Well Ms. Sato,” Tenzin began, “I looked over your proposal and I have to say, from an economic standpoint it’s more than feasible. The only thing I’m worried about is the practicality of it all. Construction would force us to close down large areas of the city for extended periods of time. Does this city really need a subway system that badly?”

“All due respect, Mayor Gyatso, but when was the last time you used public transportation in the city?” Asami asked.

“Not for years,” Tenzin admitted.

“Well sir, if you had, you’d know how difficult it is to get around in this city when you don’t have a personal vehicle. My company provides Republic City with most of its buses and we own about half the tram lines. And every day we get reports of angry and unsatisfied customers who have trouble getting where they need to be on time.”

Korra sat there, quickly jotting everything down and trying to keep a big, dopey smile from her face. Asami Sato, the beautiful and brilliant CEO of Future Industries, was now trying to make her day-to-day life less of a living hell.  _ Where have you been all my life? _

Tenzin and Asami continued talking for a while, bouncing off numbers, figures and logistics that made absolutely no sense to Korra, when Tenzin’s secretary walked in.

“I’m sorry to interrupt sir, but you have a phone call in your office,” he said.

“Would you please tell whoever it is that I am in the middle of a meeting?”

“Normally I would but, ah… it’s the vice president, sir.”

Tenzin audibly sighed, not that Korra could blame him. From what little she knew of Vice President Tarrlok the one thing Korra was sure of is that he fit every cliche in the Slimy Politician Handbook. “Would you excuse me for a few minutes Ms. Sato?”

“Of course.” Tenzin rose and quickly left the room with his secretary, leaving the two women alone. They sat in silence for a few awkward seconds, until Asami attempted to break the ice. “So… you’re an intern, huh?”

“Yep,” Korra replied, a small smile on her face from Asami’s poor attempt at making conversation.

“Let me guess… political science major?”

Korra nodded. “Freshman year at RCU.”

“Really? I had you pegged a little older than that.”

Korra chuckled. She got that a lot. “I am, actually. I’m twenty-one.”

“So why’d you start college so late?” Asami asked. “Travelling the world?”

“What makes you think that?”

Asami shrugged. “You just strike me as the adventurous type, I guess.”

“Well, no traveling the world, but I definitely have had more adventure than is good for you. Although, for the last couple of years I’ve been… dealing with some trouble back home.” Korra tried to keep her admission as vague as possible, preferring to avoid the war talk with someone she barely knew, but realized she failed when Asami’s eyes went wide.

“Oh god, you’re from the Southern Water Tribe, aren’t you?”

Korra cringed “Listen, do you mind if we don’t talk about it? The war ended three years ago and I spent those three years basically helping my dad rebuild the Tribe from the ground up. That’s pretty much all there is to know.”

Asami nodded in understanding. “It’s alright, we don’t have to talk about it. I think it’s great that you’re here now. RCU is a very good school. I actually did my master’s there.”

“Um… how many degrees do you have exactly?”

“Three?” Asami said uncertainly. “I have a bachelor’s degree in both mechanical and structural engineering, plus my MBA. So yeah, three.”

“Okay, and you’re how old?”

“Twenty-two.”

“And you run your own multinational company.”

“Pretty much.”

“Well… that’s a bit discouraging.”

The corner of Asami’s mouth quirked in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… you’re a year older than me and you’ve already done all this stuff and I’m just a twenty one-year-old freshman. I just feel kind of… inadequate.” She averted her gaze from Asami, choosing instead to stare down at the table. “I know, it’s stupid.”

“Hey,” Asami said, placing her hand on Korra’s shoulder, “it’s alright. And for the record, I don’t think you’re inadequate. Sure, you got a late start to your career, but you were helping an entire country rebuild. I’ve certainly heard worse excuses.”

Korra looked up to see Asami smiling warmly at her, and offered one in return. “Thanks, Asami.”

“No problem.” They lapsed back into a more comfortable silence for a while before Asami spoke again. “Listen, I know we agreed not to talk about this but since you’re from the South, I have to ask. You wouldn’t happen to know anything about the Avatar, would you?”

Korra tensed for a second before reacting. This was the first time anyone had asked directly about her nightly activities.  _ Okay Korra, you rehearsed this. Just lie your ass off. _ “Not really. I honestly thought she wasn’t real until she popped up here. It just seemed too convenient that a mythical figure would appear and save us.”

“The Avatar’s a mythical figure?” Asami asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah, a really old one, nearly forgotten actually. The Water Tribes barely remember it and I’m pretty sure that’s where the religion started in the first place. Basically, the story goes that there’s this spirit of light and order would choose someone in times of great need, and this person would become her Avatar and help bring peace and stuff to the world. Oh, and that person could also bend the four elements like it’s nobody’s business.”

Asami let out a small laugh. “When you put it like that, it does sound a little ridiculous.”

“I know, right? Anyway, I’ve always been more of a fan of Tempest myself.”

“The lightningbender?”

“The very same. I actually own every single issue of her comic book.” Korra started as she realized what she just confessed. “And if you  _ ever _ tell anyone about that, I’ll have to kill you.”

“Don’t worry,” Asami laughed. “Your nerdy secret’s safe with me.”

“Who’re you calling nerdy, Ms. I-have-two-engineering-degrees?” Korra asked in a mock-offended tone.

“I’m a different breed of nerdy, though,” Asami replied. “I’m more into cars, computers, the occasional videogame... I didn’t know Tempest even  _ had _ a comic.”

“Technically, she doesn’t. In the comics she’s ‘Electrowoman’ but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who she’s really supposed to be. All the big-name supers have comic book counterparts.”

Any further talk of comic books and their merits was interrupted by Tenzin bursting into the conference room. Judging by the force with which he opened the door, his conversation with the vice president had not gone well. Still by the time Korra and Asami turned to face him he seemed to have collected himself, with his face in its default, serenely neutral expression.  _ Guess all that meditation pays off, _ Korra thought.

“I apologize for taking so long Ms. Sato. Shall we continue?”

“Ready when you are, sir.”

The next hour (or two, or three… Korra couldn’t keep track) was a blur of dates and costs and building materials and hand cramps. After the meeting was over, Asami said her goodbyes to her and Tenzin and Korra returned to the mind-numbing skullduggery that was expected of her as an intern. Finally, mercifully, it was five PM and Korra could head home, take a nap, eat, take another nap, before getting ready for her other job.

After making sure Opal had left for the evening, Korra climbed on top of her desk and bent the concrete on the ceiling above her. She reached into the hole she created and dug around until she found what she was looking for: a large duffel bag with her suit. It was nothing fancy; she had pretty much thrown it together during her time fighting in the South. It consisted of a traditional Southern warrior’s outfit with most the heavy armor removed, although she kept the pelt that went around her waist. She had also added a mask to the helmet, which covered the area around her eyes.

Now suited up, Korra leapt out her dorm window, using airbendng to give herself a boost. She got to the city much faster than she had that morning, but still not fast enough for her tastes. Korra decided she’d try begging Tenzin (again) to let her use one of the ancient Air Nomad gliders he had.

Korra patrolled as she always did, never staying in one place for long, always looking for where the action was. After a few hours she had resigned herself to the fact that it was probably going to be another quiet night when she heard what sounded like a controlled but still fairly loud explosion. She turned to see smoke coming from a building about two blocks down.

The Avatar grinned.  _ Showtime! _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now before anyone flames me: no, Asami is not a bender in this universe. Since her main weapon is her electric gloves, people just assume she can lightningbend, and Asami doesn't discourage the rumors.
> 
> Anywho, as some of you may have noticed, I am posting this exactly a week after the last one and I'll try to keep to this schedule for as long as I can, give that lifey things don't get in the way. So enjoy and remember, your comments are like sunshine and rainbows to me!


	3. Enter the Avatar Pt. 3

**Mako**

“Hey Mako, a bunch of us are going down to Mai’s for some drinks. You in?”

Mako shut his locker and turned to face his partner, Jia. “Sorry, can’t. I got plans tonight.”

Jia scoffed. “You always have ‘plans’. It wouldn’t kill you to let loose once in a while, you know.”

“Next time, alright? Promise,” Mako replied, patting Jia on the shoulder.

“I’ll hold you to that. She better be smokin’ hot, though.”

“Who?”

“Whatever lady keeps taking you away from my charming company.”

Mako chuckled. “You know you’re the only woman in my life, Jia,” he said walking past her and making his way toward the exit.

“ _He_ better be smokin’ hot?” Jia called after him.

“Don’t swing that way,” Mako replied over his shoulder.

* * *

 

Mako pulled his car into an alleyway, making sure no civilians were around. He got out and walked to the back of the alley, where he revealed a keypad, hidden inside a fusebox. He punched in a code and a section of the alley’s back wall slid open, revealing a long hallway. Mako stepped through the newly-opened doorway, which slid shut behind him.

“What’s up, Supercop?” Bolin called, sticking his head out from the changing room.

Mako smiled at his brother. “Hey bro.” Bolin was still in his street clothes, meaning he had arrived at most a minute before Mako. Still, it was a drastic improvement, since Mako usually had to wait around for him to arrive.

Mako joined his brother in the dressing room and was surprised to see Asami was also there, which was odd. She usually deployed from the Cave, since it was right under her estate. When Mako came in, she was already in her costume and just strapping on her boots. Her usual makeup had already been washed off too. “Hi Mako,” she greeted.

“Hey! What’re you doing here?”

Asami shrugged. “I just felt like it. It’s been a while since we’ve deployed as a team, you know? The three of us, together.” She grabbed her mask from her bag and slipped it on. “Hurry up and get changed. I’ll be in the garage.”

Mako and Bolin quickly shed their clothes and changed into their respective outfits then made their way to the garage. “So what’s the plan for tonight?” Bolin asked.

“I think we should stick to the Miyun district tonight,” Mako said. “The Terras have been a little too quiet, lately. They might be up to something big.”

“Sounds good to me,” Asami said. “Let’s get going.”

Asami got into her car, while Mako and Bolin climbed onto their bikes. All three vehicles were works of art, designed by Asami herself. They were faster than anything else on the street, handled beautifully, and were, of course, equipped with weapons designed to slow down or incapacitate other vehicles.

Mako shot out of the garage, taking point, with Bolin right on his tail and Asami bringing up the rear. Once they got to the Miyun district, each of the three heroes went their separate ways to cover more ground. Mako heard Asami’s voice in his ear. “Keep in radio contact guys, and remember, call for backup if you need it. We don’t need a repeat of last month.”

Mako winced at the memory, remembering the awful pain in his leg. He’d probably still have it in a cast if it weren’t for Wen. He lifted his hand to touch the contact near his ear.  “Understood,” he replied.

Weaving in and out of streets and alleys, Mako couldn’t help but notice the unnerving quiet. This district was the Terra Triad’s base of operations, and while most civilians knew to avoid the streets after dark around here, there still should’ve been at least some low level thugs lurking around, trying to find some unsuspecting victims.

However, it wasn’t long before said quiet was interrupted by an explosion. Mako turned around to see a column of smoke rising into the sky, not far from his position.

“Uh… did anyone else hear that?” Bolin asked.

“Yeah,” Mako replied. “I’m about half a mile out, I’ll go see what’s up.” He rode his bike into the alley behind the building where the explosion occurred. Using his firebending as a booster, he was able to quickly climb the building’s fire escape up onto the roof. Just as he was leaning out to check what was going on at street level, he heard the sounds of gunfire.

Mako quickly ducked down to avoid getting hit but after a few seconds, he realized he wasn’t the one being fired at. Once again, he leaned over the side of the building to assess the situation. The people down below were wearing outfits that were unfamiliar to Mako, they covered them from head to toe, and they even sported full face masks, complete with goggles so not a single inch of skin or hair was visible. These people weren’t Triad, that was for sure.

“I count ten… no, twelve perps with automatic weapons.”

“Any benders?” Asami asked.

“None on this side, they’ve all got guns.” Mako studied the scene below him, specifically, the target the automatics were pointed at. Whoever, they were, they were hidden behind a wall of earth that had obviously been bent. Mako was about to declare them Terra members defending their turf, until he saw a lone figure pop up from behind the wall and and shoot fire at her assailants. There was only one person that could be. “The Avatar has engaged, but she looks a bit overwhelmed. These guys aren’t giving her any breathing room.”

“Get down there and help her. Landslide and I will be there ASAP.”

“Got it.” Mako leapt off the roof and used a burst of flame to break his fall, landing behind the gunmen. He lost no time in directing bursts of fire at them, breaking their focus on the Avatar, who lost no time in leaping over her makeshift wall and joining the battle. Mako kept in constant movement, refusing to let any of the gunmen get a clear bead on him.

Meanwhile, the Avatar managed to jam two of the weapons, sneaking water she produced from a skin on her side into their barrels and freezing it. The men tossed their now useless weapons aside and attempted to engage the Avatar in hand-to-hand combat. That attempt was short-lived as the Avatar hit them both with a burst of airbending that slammed them into a nearby wall.

Mako’s weaving and dodging eventually brought him close to the Avatar, who was busy throwing rocks at bad guy heads. “Hey, you’re Wildfire!”

“Yeah,” Mako grunted, ducking under a punch thrown at his head and answering with a flaming uppercut.

“Thanks for saving my ass,” the Avatar said as she raised a pillar of earth that violently interrupted a leaping kick from one of the thugs.

“No problem. You mind if we finish this conversation when we’re not fighting for our lives?”

“Yeah, sure.”

Their opponents had pulled back their attacks and were regrouping, trying to get some leverage on the two heroes. Before they could, Mako spied two familiar figures running into the conflict. Their backup had arrived.

Bolin jumped, propelling himself high into the air with a little assistance from his earthbending, yelling his own particular version of a war cry. He landed in the middle of the reassembled gangsters, causing a shockwave as he hit the ground, destabilizing their footing. Asami wasted no time coming in after him, knocking down whatever bad guys weren’t already on their asses. She made sure to shock the most troublesome of them, ensuring that they wouldn’t get back up for a while.

Mako and the Avatar dove back into the fight, making it a priority to disarm whoever was still holding on to their weapons. Mako was in the processes of ramming a guy on the nose with the butt of his own gun when he noticed another thug sneak up behind Bolin, and deliver a series of quick punches to his arms and torso. Bolin fell to his knees, so Mako rushed to meet his attacker. A few well-placed fireballs forced him to back off, and Mako pulled his brother back on his feet.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, thanks bro.”

Their attention turning back to the battle, the brothers noticed that the man who attacked Bolin had pulled out a sidearm. Bolin raised his arms in order to cover him and Mako with a protective wall and… nothing happened. The ground didn’t budge an inch. The gunman now having a clear shot, the brothers did the only thing they could and dove out of the way, trying to throw his aim off. Mako lobbed some more fire at him, but not before he was able to squeeze off two shots.

Mako landed hard on the ground but was otherwise unharmed. He looked around the battlefield for Bolin and found him lying on the ground, clutching his left shoulder. By the time he reached him, Asami was already there, trying to get a look at the wound.

“You need to get him out of here,” he said. Mako felt like he should do it himself, but Asami was the one with the car. She’d be able to safely transport Bolin much better than he could on his bike.

“You’re gonna be okay here?” she asked.

“Yeah, the Avatar and I will handle these guys. Just get him somewhere safe.”

“Alright… we’ll be at the Tower, it’s the closest safehouse to our current position.”

“Noted.”

While Asami held Bolin up and led him to her car, Mako scanned the battlefield for the Avatar. She was a few feet away dealing with the last of the men still in fighting shape and seemed to be easily holding her own. That just left the bastard who shot his brother.

He was on the ground, one of the fireballs that Mako shot having connected with his leg. When he saw Mako coming, he tried to raise his gun to take another shot, but Mako was too quick for him. He grabbed onto the gun’s barrel and used his firebending to heat it. It wasn’t too long before the gun became too hot and the man on the ground screamed as his hand got burned. He let go of the gun and Mako tossed it aside.

Mako then grabbed the man by the collar and rammed his fist into his face. Then he did it again. And again. He was about to go for a fourth when he felt a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, I’m pretty sure you won already.”

Mako looked up to see the Avatar standing above him, looking concerned.

“Yeah, sorry, it’s just… he shot Landslide.” Mako stood to face the Avatar. “So how’d it go?”

“Most of them ran off. A couple of them are out cold,” she gestured behind her where there were two of the masked men propped up against a wall, “and we’ve got your friend here, so…”

Now that the battle was over, Mako’s every instinct told him to go straight to the Tower and check on Bolin. However, he had a duty to fulfill. He reached into a pouch on his belt and produced some zip-ties, handing two to the Avatar. “These go around wrists and ankles, so these guys don’t run off before the cops show up. You take care of this guy, I’ll get the other two.”

Once all three of the thugs were secured, Mako and the Avatar stood before the hole created by them. “What do you think’s inside?” the avatar asked.

“Only one way to find out.” Mako stepped inside to find that the building had essentially been converted into a warehouse. A warehouse filled with packages wrapped in clear plastic. Mako grabbed one and teared it open, watching as a puff of white powder fell out. “Drugs,” he said. “Probably cocaine, although in a place this size, they probably have a variety of them.”

“You think they have any weed in here?” the Avatar asked with attempted nonchalance.

Mako stared at her. “Seriously?”

“What? It’s legal where I come from!”

“Well, it’s illegal here.”

The Avatar shrugged. “Not my fault the United Republic’s behind the times.”

Mako sighed. “No, they probably don’t have any weed. Terra deals almost exclusively with the harder stuff.”

“Shame…. Hey, where are all the guards?”

Mako had just been wondering that himself. There were easily millions of yuans in drugs in there, yet the place had been seemingly abandoned by the Terras. There weren’t even any corpses, which added a wrinkle to Mako’s investigation. Even if he called Jia with the tip, they wouldn’t be able to work on the case for long. With no bodies to make this a homicide, the case would quickly be handed over to Vice. Still, if Jia was the one to pick up the three mooks outside, he might get a chance at interrogating them.

He once again reached into his belt and pulled out his communicator. He started it up and called Jia, adding a voice mod to the mike as it rang.

“Who’re you calling?” the Avatar asked.

“A friend in the police force.”

Jia picked up. “Wildfire, what have I told you about calling me when I’m off-duty?”

“Yeah, sorry Detective Zhang, but trust me, this is worth it.”

“What’ve you got for me?”

“Corner of twenty-fifth and Kyoshi, there’s a building. It’s owned by the Terra Triad and full of category A drugs. It’ll be the building that’s missing a wall. There are also three perps outside who were attempting to raid the warehouse and take the drugs for themselves.”

Mako heard a sigh from the other end of the line. “Alright, I can be there in fifteen with along with a couple of squad cars. Thanks for the tip.”

“Anytime, Detective.” Mako hung up and was about to put the communicator away when he noticed he had a voice message waiting for him. He accessed it and heard Asami’s voice come through the speaker.

“Seriously, why is your communicator _always_ off? Anyway, listen, Landslide’s fine. It was just a flesh wound. I patched him up and gave him some painkillers. We’ll see you back at the Tower.” Mako breathed a sigh of relief at Asami’s words.

“Who was that?” the Avatar asked.

“Tempest. She said Landslide’s going to be fine.”

“That’s great! So what do we do now?”

At that moment, Mako heard sirens in the distance. “We get out of here before the cops show.”

“Why? Aren’t we all on the same side?”

“Yes, but technically we’re still vigilantes. It’s just better if we don’t directly cross paths.” Of course, Mako left out the more relevant reason why he needed to be gone before the police arrived. He had never let Wildfire and Jia meet face-to-face for fear that she would recognize him, even with the mask.

Mako raced outside and the Avatar followed. He went around the street corner on his way to his bike, where he found Bolin’s parked outside the alley where he left his. “Hey, would you mind following me back? I need to get Landslide’s bike back to the safehouse.”

The Avatar gave him a wide grin. “And get a chance to see your team’s HQ? Definitely!”

Mako decided not to tell her that the Tower was in fact relatively modest as far as Asami’s safehouses went and instead went into the alley for his bike. When he emerged, the Avatar was on Bolin’s bike, awkwardly trying to balance on it. “You have ridden a motorcycle before, right?” he asked, throwing her the keys.

The Avatar turned the bike on and revved the engine. “I’ve ridden a snowmobile. Basically the same thing, isn’t it?”

It _really_ wasn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this a day late guys! Next chapter will be on time I promise (it's already written).  
> This is my first time writing a fight scene (unless you count the Korra vs. Triple Threat scene in Chapter 1 as a fight scene) so I'm hoping it turned out okay.  
> Enjoy, and remember comments are love, comments are life.


	4. Enter the Avatar Pt. 4

**Bolin**

Asami pulled her car into the Tower’s garage. She quickly accessed the safe house’s security system from the vehicle’s onboard suite to make sure nobody had followed them. Satisfied that they were alone, she got out of the car and went around to the passenger’s side to open the door and help Bolin out.

“Ow, ow,” Bolin moaned.

“Oh, stop being such a baby,” Asami said playfully.

“Oh, I’m sorry, do  _ you _ have a gunshot wound on your arm!?” Bolin yelled, gesturing at his injured shoulder.

“Not at the moment, but I have been shot several times. We don’t all have the benefit of being able to put up a wall of rock when the bullets start flying. Which reminds me, why didn’t you do that, exactly?” Asami asked, as they stepped into the elevator and began their descent.

Bolin gave a one-shoulder shrug. “After that guy hit me, my bending kind of… stopped working.” He gave Asami a panicked look. “You don’t think it’s permanent, do you?”

“I don’t know. Once we get down to the infirmary and get that shoulder looked at, I’ll bring you an earth disk from the gym, alright?”

“Okay. Thanks, Asami.”

The elevator finally stopped and the two made their way through the hallway and went into a stark white room. Bolin took a seat on the infirmary’s bed while Asami went around gathering the supplies needed to treat him. With clippers, gauze and rubbing alcohol in hand, she made her way towards Bolin and sat next to him, quickly ripping off her mask and tossing it on the bed. She gingerly cut the sleeve off of Bolin’s suit, and removed it. Once the area was clear, Asami was able to clearly see a wound on the back of Bolin’s shoulder as well. She sighed with relief.

“There’s an exit wound, so that means the bullet’s not lodged in there. And since you’re still conscious, I think it’s a fair bet to say it didn’t hit anything important.” She grabbed the rubbing alcohol, and moistened some gauze with it. “I have to sterilize the area. Fair warning, it’s gonna sting like a bitch.”

Bolin nodded and gritted his teeth. “Go ahead,” he said. He winced as the gauze made contact with the exposed flesh, but managed to bear it for the time it took for Asami to finish. Once the area was clean, Asami took some fresh gauze and held it against Bolin’s shoulder, then wrapped a bandage around it to hold it in place.

“That’s that, then. It should be enough, at least until I come back with Wen. Are you gonna be okay here on your own?” Asami asked.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Bolin replied. “But before you go… could I get that earth disk?”

“Oh, right.” Asami made her way to the gym while Bolin tried not to panic. He really hoped that whatever happened to his bending hadn’t been permanent. It wasn’t just the bending itself that worried him, it was the fact that without it, he probably wouldn’t be part of the team anymore. No more adventuring with Mako and Asami. No more stopping bad guys. And, most tragically of all, no more fan girls. Sure, Bolin wasn’t into the superhero business for the fame--none of them were--but still, some of the perks were nice.

He was shaken out of his train of thought when Asami arrived, carrying one of the heavy earth disks Bolin usually used during practice. “Now don’t try to do anything fancy,” Asami warned. “Just move it around a little. You don’t want to overexert yourself.” She placed the disk on the floor.

Bolin stood in a fighting stance, and raised his good arm in a swift motion. The disk rose a couple of inches before crashing back down. Bolin groaned as a jolt of pain shot through his injured shoulder, and he fell down heavily back onto the bed.

“Well, at least now we know it’s temporary,” Asami soothed. She reached into one of the nearby cabinets and pulled out a small bottle, which she placed on the nightstand next to the bed. “I’ll leave you some painkillers in case your shoulder gets too uncomfortable while I’m gone. They’re narcotic and pretty strong, so don’t take more than a couple, alright?”

Bolin nodded. “Alright.”

“I’ll be back soon.” Asami assured him, and headed out.

Bolin wasted no time in grabbing the bottle at his bedside. Getting it open proved a bit tricky with just one arm, but he managed it after a bit. He took out and swallowed two pills then he laid back on the bed and attempted to relax, occasionally stealing glances at the clock on the wall. Ten minutes passed. Then fifteen. And still his shoulder hurt as much as it did before he took the pills. Getting shot, he decided, was officially on his ‘not fun’ list. He looked at the small bottle again.

_ One more can’t hurt, right? _ He knocked back another pill, and after another five minutes, he finally felt the pain start to recede. Soon it was little more than a dull ache. In fact, compared to how how he felt even a couple of minutes ago, Bolin was feeling pretty good. Really good, actually. And really, why shouldn’t he? His bending was back, Wen would be back in no time to heal him, and he had just survived his first gunshot wound. His only complaint (apart from the bullet wound on his shoulder, obviously) was that the bed was kind of uncomfortable. Every time he shifted his body he could feel something dig into his lower back. But aside from that, Bolin couldn’t remember feeling better.

He was shaken out of his state of bliss by knock on the door. “Hey bro, it’s me. You got your mask on?” Mako asked through the door.

Bolin pondered this for a moment.  _ Did _ he have his mask on? Doesn’t everyone wear masks everyday, hiding their true thoughts and feelings… their true selves from the the people around them. Whoa. Bolin had no idea his brother could be this deep. He attempted to rub his eyes, but was met with resistance when his fingers met the clear plastic of his goggles.  _ Oh! Mako probably meant this mask. _ “Yeah, it’s on,” he called.

The door opened and in walked Mako followed closely by the Avatar. So  _ that’s _ why he had asked. “Hey Ma--”  _ Shit, stranger in the room, can’t use real names,  _ “....mah man!”  _ Nice save, Bo! _

“Um… are you alright?” Mako asked.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m great! As--Tempest patched me up and gave some painkillers, s’all good.”

Mako walked over to the bedside table and picked up the pill bottle examining it. “How many of these did you take?”

“Just one or two… or three.”

The Avatar, who had been standing at the doorway silently, suddenly burst out laughing. “Oh my god, you’re stoned off your ass, aren’t you?”

Bolin stared at her, but it wasn’t too long before he started laughing as well, and even Mako had to crack a smile.

“I guess I am,” Bolin managed to say, after a minute. “So how’d the ass-kicking go?”

“We managed to restrain three of them, but the rest got away,” Mako said. “The ones we got are in police custody by now.”

“You find out what they were after?”

“The building they were in was packed full of drugs,” the Avatar chimed in. “We drove them off before they got their hands on any.”

“We made a pretty good team, you know,” Mako told her. “Although I noticed your firebending forms are a little rough. If you want, I could teach you a few moves sometime.”

Bolin rolled his eyes. This was typical of his brother. He’d think Mako would’ve learned his lesson after what happened with Asami but noooo…

He shifted around to look at him, and which caused the stupid, uncomfortable bed to dig into his back again. “Are you seriously hitting on her right now, bro? You barely met her like an hour ago!”

Mako turned so red he matched his face matched his outfit. The Avatar, meanwhile stood there awkwardly rubbing the back of her neck. “Hey listen, Wildfire. I’m flattered, and you seem like a nice guy and all, but you’re not really… my type.”

Mako’s expression shifted from embarrased to slightly offended. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, crossing his arms.

The Avatar held her hands up. “It’s nothing personal, you just don’t have the right, um… equipment.”

Bolin rolled his eyes again. Judging by Mako’s bemused look he  _ still _ wasn’t getting it. How can one guy be so smart and so dense at the same time? “She means she’s gay, bro.” He quickly shifted his gaze to the Avatar. “Right?”

“As a tsungi horn.”

“Oh… sorry,” Mako said.

The Avatar shrugged. “It’s fine, you didn’t know.”

Mako buried his face in his hands. “If you don’t mind, I’m gonna go punch something.” He headed out and (hopefully) towards the gym, slamming the door shut behind him.

“Welp… that was awkward,” the Avatar said.

“No kidding,” Bolin replied. “Hey, um, sorry about outing you like that.”

“Nah, it’s cool, it’s not like I’m in the closet or anything. I’ve just never had to be so… blunt about it.”

“Believe it or not, Wildfire’s supposed to be the detective of the team.”

The Avatar chuckled. “Hey, speaking of the team, where’s Tempest? I was kind of hoping to properly meet her.”

“Oh, she should be back soon. She just went to get our healer to help with my shoulder.”

The Avatar smacked her forehead with her palm. “Shit, I’m such an idiot. Here you are in pain, probably and I’m not doing anything.” She rushed over to Bolin and tentatively put a hand on the bandages covering his injured shoulder. “You mind if I…”

Bolin gave her a nod, and the superheroine started unwrapping his shoulder. “So you can heal, too?” he asked.

“Of course I can,” she replied with a cocky smirk. “I’m the Avatar, master of all four elements.” She peeled off the last layer of bandages. Once the wound was exposed, she summoned a stream of water from the infirmary’s sink faucet and pressed it against Bolin’s shoulder, where it started to glow. After a few minutes she removed the water and guided it back towards the sink.

“Now this was just waterbending healing, not magic. I got rid of the worst of the damage and you won’t feel a lot of pain even when your happy pills wear off, but take it easy on that shoulder for a while, alright?”

“Don’t worry, I know the drill,” Bolin said, rolling his shoulder experimentally. “Thanks!”

“No problem.”

Just then a faint ding from the elevator was heard from the hallway. “That must be Tempest,” Bolin said. As he shifted his body in the direction of the door, he once again felt the bed’s assault on his back. Deciding enough was enough, he stuck his good arm under his body to try and dig out whatever it was that was bothering him. He managed grab ahold of it just as he heard footsteps coming to a halt outside the infirmary door. He dug it out and took a look recognizing it just when the door’s knob was being turned.

It was a mask.

It was  _ Asami’s _ mask

_ Oh, shit... _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, this chapter's on time, yay! Sorry about the cliffhanger there at the end, but I honestly couldn't resist. Anyways, enjoy and remember to leave a comment!


	5. Enter the Avatar Pt. 5

**Korra**

_ Okay, relax. Breathe in and out. Do NOT make a fool of yourself. _ That last one was easier said than done. Korra was about to meet her idol, her number one hero, the woman who was the reason she put on her mask in the first place. It took every ounce of self-restraint she had not to burst through the infirmary door and just jump around Tempest like a hyperactive fangirl. But no, she was the Avatar dammit, and she was going to keep her cool!

As the door opened, Korra sucked in her breath. And in she came. Everything was just as Korra had pictured it: The sleek red-and-black outfit, the belt laden with all manner of gadgets, the… hang on. There was no mask. And what was more, Korra knew who she was. Sure, the make-up she had on that morning was gone and her hair wasn’t in a ponytail, but there was no mistaking that face. “Asami?”

Tempest… Asami looked at Korra with a shocked expression, which quickly turned to anger. Thankfully, the anger seemed to be directed not at her, but at Landslide. “Hey… you forgot your mask,” he said sheepishly.

“What the hell is she doing here?” Asami asked, pointing at Korra.

“Hey, don’t look at me! Wildfire’s the one who brought her with him.”

Asami facepalmed. “I am seriously going to murder him.” She turned to Korra with what seemed to be a poor attempt at a reassuring smile. “Sorry about that. I’m… not really sure how to do this, so…”

Korra, with her brain still short-circuiting from the fact that Tempest and Asami Sato were the same person, took a while to respond. “Honestly, I’m not too sure either. Um… hi?” she said, extending her hand.

Asami shook it. “You know, despite my little outburst, I’ve been hoping to run into you since you showed up in the city. It’s nice to finally meet you.”

“We’ve ah… we’ve met before…” Korra said hesitantly. She wasn’t sure whether she should reveal her own identity. It certainly hadn’t been a part of her plan when she agreed to come to the safehouse with Wildfire. But the fact still was that she now knew another Super’s identity and she had learned it by accident, against her that person’s will. Besides, Tempest was the greatest and Asami herself had seemed like a good person. She could be trusted, right? “We met this morning, actually… I’m a huge fan?”

Asami’s eyes widened in recognition and she nodded. “Let me just get Landslide healed and we can go somewhere and talk about this.”

“I’m cool, actually,” Landslide called from his bed. “The Avatar took care of it.”

“A Super who can heal,” Asami mused. “That could be handy out in the field. Guess that trip back home was a waste, though.”

“Sorry about that,” Korra said.

“I don’t think I’m the one you’ll need to apologize to.” Asami opened the infirmary door and stuck her head out into the hallway. “Wen, you can come in. Everyone else is masked.”

“I’m well aware, Ms. Sato. I heard the commotion,” a middle-aged man, Wen presumably, said. He was short, little more than five feet tall, and balding, but the way he carried himself showed that he was stronger than he appeared on first sight. Korra’s experience around soldiers told her that he was probably ex-military. “Avatar, I hope you don’t mind if I examine your work.”

“Go ahead.”

Wen approached Landslide, who presented his shoulder to him. Wen placed his palm flat on the shoulder in order to feel the flow of water within. “I must say I’m impressed,” he told Korra. “You did a remarkable job.”

“As good as you could’ve done?” Asami asked.

“Perhaps even better, as much as it pains me to admit it,” Wen said.

Asami looked over at a smug-looking Korra. “Well, now that that’s settled, you want to go talk somewhere?”

Korra could barely her excitement at the thought of spending one-on-one time with Tempest. Just the two of them talking, and then Korra would say something funny, and Asami would laugh and then she’d lean in and…  _ No! Bad Korra! Get your mind out of the gutter! _ She cleared her throat awkwardly. “Yeah, sure. You have someplace in mind?”

“Just follow me.” She left the infirmary with Korra right behind her. 

“So who was that guy? The healer, I mean.”

“Oh, that’s Wen, my butler.”

_ She has a butler?  _ Korra thought. “Why was he waiting outside?”

“He doesn’t know Landslide’s identity. Or at least Landslide hasn’t revealed it to him yet, but I’m sure he’s figured it out. The guys and I hang out in civilian mode a lot, but Wen is respectful enough to not let on until they choose to tell him directly.”

A few doors down, Korra spied Wildfire coming out of another room. When he saw the both of them together, and Asami without her mask, he knew he was in deep shit. He reluctantly approached them. “Hey, Asa--”

“Save it!” Asami interrupted. “Are you done with the gym?”

“Uh, yeah. It’s all yours.”

“Good. Make sure to tell the others no one can come in until we’re done. The Avatar isn’t going to have her mask on.”

“Got it.”

“Now, how hard would it have been for you to call me and tell me something along those lines before I exposed my identity to an unknown?” Asami’s voice lost her edge towards the end, letting Wildfire know he was forgiven, even though she was clearly still annoyed.

“Not very hard at all. Won’t happen again, I promise.” He slipped past the both of them to continue down the hall. “Oh, and it was nice meeting you, Avatar.”

“Yeah, nice meeting you too.”

The two heroines entered the gym and Korra pulled off her helmet as soon as Asami shut the door behind her. “Finally, I can take this thing off!”

“Is it that uncomfortable?” Asami asked.

“Not really uncomfortable, just heavy as shit.”

“May I?” Asami asked, extending her hand. Korra handed the mask over, and Asami hefted it in her hands. “You weren’t kidding.”

“I know, right? But this baby’ll stop anything short of a bullet.”

“You know, I could probably make one just as durable and about a third as heavy.”

Korra took her helmet back with a reluctant smile. “As awesome as that would be Asami, I don’t think I could afford it.” There was that, and the fact that Korra loved her outfit exactly as it was.

“Oh, I wouldn’t charge you. I did the same thing for Landslide and Wildfire. You wouldn’t believe what they were running around in before I met them.”

Crap. Korra had to think of another way to let Asami down easy. Maybe the truth would work. “Listen, I really appreciate it, but I kinda want to keep my outfit exactly as it is. It reminds of home. Sorry.”

“It’s alright.” Asami offered a reassuring smile. “Trust me, I totally get the sentimentality. You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to work that scarf into Wildfire’s outfit in a practical way, but he refused to part with it.”

That managed to get a chuckle out of Korra. After that, they lapsed into a silence which was awkwardly broken (as was becoming the norm for them) by Asami.

“So you’re the Avatar, huh?”

“Yup. And you’re Tempest.”

“So how much of a fool did I make of myself asking you about you this morning?”

Korra laughed. “Wait, you’re embarrassed? How do you think I feel? I started geeking out about Tempest like crazy in front of you!”

“I’m always happy to meet a fan,” Asami said, smirking.

“And apparently, you’re also one of mine. So what’s with all the interest in me?” Korra asked.

“Well, you can bend all four elements. Noone’s ever heard of someone who can bend more than one element, let alone all of them. How does something like that happen?”

Korra hesitated. She had never shared how she got her powers before. She got them at one of the darkest points in her life. The Civil War still haunted her at times. What she had to do to ensure her people’s victory… still, she could always leave that part out, at least for the moment. However, before she could start, it seemed Asami had picked up on her reluctance. “Hey, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

“No, it’s alright. It’s been a long time since I’ve thought about the past, but I can’t leave it buried forever.” Korra took a deep breath and began her story.

* * *

 

_ Five years ago… _

Korra was exhausted. It had been another long day of running, keeping ahead of the Northern Water Tribes forces. Ever since her father’s imprisonment, the Southern Resistance had been falling apart. The lieutenants that remained spent more time bickering than fighting without Tonraq’s presence.

She still couldn’t believe all the atrocities her uncle had committed. It made Korra ashamed to remember how she once looked up to the man. How, when he brought his troops South, he had manipulated Korra into trying to convince her father not to fight, to just give up. How could she have been so blind?

It didn’t help that some of the men in the camp somehow expected her to take her father’s place. She didn’t see how she could measure up to that. She wasn’t a leader, she wasn’t even a waterbender! She was just a sixteen-year-old girl. And she was  _ very _ tired.

Korra collapsed into her cot, determined to get as much sleep as she could, before the scouts outside reported enemy movement and the whole cycle of running and hiding started all over again. At least she had a tent all to herself. Perks of being the Chief’s daughter, even if he was in an enemy prison. It seemed that she had just shut her eyes when she felt a bright light shine on her face.

She groaned, expecting to see a soldier with a lantern when she opened her eyes. Instead, she saw what appeared to be a giant luminescent white and blue kite, floating in the middle of her tent. Had she finally lost it?

_ Greetings, Korra of the Southern Water Tribe. _

It… spoke? Korra sighed. If this was a hallucination or some form of extremely vivid dream, it was marginally better than her reality. She decided to play along. “Um, greetings to you too… who are you?”

_ My name is Raava. I am here, Korra, because your world is in grave peril and requires my protection. I have chosen you to become my Avatar. _

Okay, so a great big mystical kite was in her tent, speaking of grave peril. Well, it came about two years too late, in Korra’s opinion. Still, being an Avatar sounded cool. It sounded like some title bestowed upon a legendary warrior or something. “So what does that mean, exactly?” she asked.

_ I will combine my essence with yours. Through me, you will wield a great power. Enough to protect this world from whatever might threaten it. _

To Korra there was only one thing “great power” meant. “You mean… I’ll be able to waterbend?”

_ You will be able to bend, but not just water. Once we are joined, you will have mastery over all four elements. _

This deal was getting better and better! Or was it a deal? Korra hadn’t heard Raava offer her a choice in the matter. She just said she had been chosen. “What happens if I refuse?”

_ Then I will find someone who is willing. It is a great burden to be my Avatar, and a permanent one. Once our essences are combined, the only way to separate them again would be through your death. This is never a burden I would give to someone who is unwilling. _

Dream or reality, Korra knew she had to make a decision. If she agreed, and this wasn’t a hallucination, she would apparently face the responsibility of saving the entire world. If she said no, that job would fall to someone else. Still, that threat wasn’t here yet, and Korra was facing a much more immediate one. She just had one more question. “If I agree to this, will you help me win this war?”

_ I will. _

She gritted her teeth. ”Then I accept.”

* * *

 

Korra looked up to see Asami staring at her with rapt attention. “And then what happened?” she asked.

“Well, the next morning I kinda caused an avalanche that slowed down the Northern troops that were chasing us. That’s what convinced me it hadn’t all been just a crazy dream. Later I used my nifty new earthbending to break my dad out of prison and he took charge of the rebel troops again.”

And then came the question Korra was dreading. “So what did you do after that?”

“Well, I only ever told my parents the full story, and even if some of the lieutenants were told of the full range of my abilities, they never knew who I was. I was mostly called in when our troops were being overwhelmed. I’d show up, rain some fire on the enemy, and they’d run away scared. Two years later, the war was won.” She left out exactly  _ how _ the war had been won. That wasn’t something Korra was eager to relive.

“So you single-handedly ended a years-long war?” Asami asked, clearly a bit skeptical.

“Not exactly,” Korra admitted. “You know that really obscure Avatar myth I told you about? I hadn’t even heard of it until after Raava found me. But apparently enough people knew about it, so we were able to weaponize it. My existence became kind of an open secret among the troops. Turns out believing a mythical hero has returned to fight at your side does wonders for morale. After the war was over, my dad was elected Chief pretty much unanimously, and I stayed to help him rebuild for a while, and now I’m here!”

Asami took some time to digest all this information, but it was clear something was still bothering her. “Okay, that’s great and all, but what about this warning of grave danger Raava mentioned? What was that all about?”

“I uh… I honestly don’t know.” Korra shifted nervously. For some reason, the fact that she didn’t know what was up with the whole world-ending threat was a bit of a sore spot for her. “After Raava and I fused… joined… whatever, I got a few flashes, kind of like memories only… I think they were from other Avatars. Like, the people Raava chose before me. I think I saw another mystical kite, like Raava but this one was all red and black and I think evil?”

“Hey! What’s wrong with black and red?” Asami teased.

“Nothing, if you can pull it off.” Korra replied. “But I just got a bad vibe from this guy. That’s actually another reason why I came to Republic City. Tenzin, er, Mayor Gyatso is an old friend of the family. His really big into meditation and communicating with your inner self and all that. He’s trying to teach me to get in contact with Raava, figure out what hell’s going on.”

“And in the meantime, you attend college, have an internship, and regularly go out at night to beat the crap out of people,” Asami said with a laugh. “I can’t believe you thought  _ I  _ was the intimidatingly impressive one this morning.”

“Hey, I think that’s true more than ever now. I mean, you’re friggin’  _ Tempest.  _ Do you have any Idea how awesome that is?” Korra mentally kicked herself for letting the fangirl leak out, but Asami didn’t seem to mind.

“Very?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of ‘extremely’.”

Asami laughed again, and damn, if that wasn’t a sound Korra was quickly coming to love. However, Asami’s laughter was soon interrupted by a yawn. “Guess the adrenaline’s worn off, huh?”

“I guess. I should turn in soon either way. I have an early meeting tomorrow.”

“Seriously?” Korra asked. “On a Sunday? That sounds… awful.”

Asami gave Korra a wry smile. “One of the downsides of having clients all over the world. Put your mask back on. I’ll walk you out.”

They made their way back to the elevator, Wen joining them as they passed the infirmary. Once they were back in the garage, he got into the passenger seat of Tempest’s car.

“Are you sure you don’t want a ride?” Asami asked Korra.

“I’m sure. My dorm’s not too far from here,” Korra said, pointing in the general direction of the university.

“Alright, then. I guess I’ll see you around.”

As she turned to get into her car Korra called out, “Hey, Asami?”

“Yeah?”

_ Oh. Didn’t think this far ahead. Dammit! _ Korra’s instinct was telling her to just ask Asami out, but it was thankfully overridden by the rational part of her brain. After the whole Ikkuna fiasco back home, Korra had a strict “straight until proven gay” policy. It still didn’t mean that Korra wanted her relationship with Asami or with Tempest to be simply bumping into each other every so often. “Listen, I’m pretty new to this whole superhero business. You seem like a really cool person, and have been doing this a while so… would you maybe want to hang out sometime?”

“Of course. Are you free Wednesday afternoon?”

“Yeah, all my classes are in the morning.”

“Great! Just drop by my house any time after two.” With that, Asami got into her car, leaving Korra dumbfounded.

She tapped on the car window and Asami rolled it down. “Um… I don’t know where that is.”

“Oh, right… just look up the Sato Manor online. It’s technically a City Heritage site, it shouldn’t be too hard to find.” With a final wave to Korra she put her car in reverse and drove out of the garage, leaving Korra a giddy mess inside. She had a (kind of) date with the greatest superhero of all time!

She ran all the way home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry I missed a week, but I had midterms. So this chapter concludes the Enter the Avatar arc and next week we'll be learning more about our mysterious villains.  
> (although if you haven't figured out who they are by now, you clearly haven't seen the show, in which case, what are you doing here reading my crappy fanfic? Go watch the show already!)  
> Ahem, anyways, read and enjoy, comment, all that good stuff!  
> PS I hit a hundred kudos! woot woot! Thanks, guys!


	6. The Man in the Mask Pt. 1

**Lin**

She had a headache. It was par for the course lately, if she was being honest. Lin thought things couldn’t get any worse than dealing with Zolt, but boy, was she wrong. These new bozos, whoever the fuck they were, were making life hell for her people. They were aggressively muscling into all three triads’ territories, and they didn’t seem to care who got caught in the crossfire. Being the chief could be a real bitch sometimes.

Still, it wasn’t like they weren’t making any progress. Zhang picked up the package Wildfire had very kindly left for her, so now they were up three mooks and about three millions yuans’ worth of cocaine and amphetamines in the evidence locker. Now there was only the problem of how useful those things were going to be.

The lost drugs would definitely hurt Terra, although that didn’t seem to be very hard these days. This new gang knew Terra was the weakest of the three triads, and had faced the brunt of most of their attacks. They were pretty much scrambling, trying to hold on to whatever territory they could.

The three masked morons were a different story. These guys had hit hard and disappear tactics down to a science. The fact that they had those three in custody right now was a miracle. She’d let Zhang have a first crack at them (it was only fair) and was now on her way to see what she had gotten out of them.

“Chief,” Zhang greeted as she approached her desk.

“Zhang,” Lin replied with a nod. “Where’s your partner?”

“Getting lunch. Did you want him here for the debrief?”

“Not necessary. Just tell me what you got.”

“Well… we got nothing.” Zhang looked away, ashamed. “I tried every trick in the book. Interviewed them together, separately, I tried to cut deals, I tried to convince them one of the others had already cracked, and nothing. They haven’t even asked for a fucking lawyer!”

Great. Not only were these people a pain in her ass, apparently they had enough discipline to not crack under interrogation. These weren’t your typical street thugs. “And none of them have said a single word?”

Zhang sighed. “They’ve said exactly one word. All three of them, the same word. ‘Amon.’”

“Any idea what it means?”

“They weren’t exactly forthcoming with context, Chief. It could be a person, the name of their gang or just gibberish. So far though, it’s all we’ve got.”

Lin nodded. “Don’t give up yet, Zhang. We’ve got enough evidence to keep those three here for a good, long while. You keep pressing until they crack, alright?”

“You got it, Chief.”

With that, Lin moved on to the next order of business, the armory. Along with the drugs, the police were also able to confiscate several weapons that the masked men had been using. They were now in Kato’s hands, and that man was a firearm savant. If anyone could track down where those weapons came from, it was him. 

Lin made her way to the elevator, impatiently tapping her foot while the world’s slowest machine made its way up to her. When it finally arrived, she got it and mashed the button for the building’s basement. An eternity later, the elevator arrived at its destination, and the doors opened to reveal Kato sitting with his feet on his desk.

“Hey Beifong, I was just coming up to see you.” Kato technically wasn’t a cop, which was why he could get away with so many breaches of protocol. Still, that normally wouldn’t stop Lin from tearing into him, but the simple fact was that he was way too valuable. She couldn’t risk him deciding working with her was too much of a hassle and quitting.

“I assume this means you have something for me.”

“You know I do. Step into my office.” He swung his legs off the desk and stood, leading Lin into the armory. In there, he showed Lin a workbench with several of the rifles they confiscated in various states of assembly.

“So what can you tell me about these?” Lin asked.

Kato was practically vibrating with excitement. “What  _ can’t _ I tell you? These are the coolest fucking things I’ve ever seen! Seriously, whoever designed these bad boys has a serious hard-on for assault weaponry.”

Lin groaned. “Get to the point.”

“Right, right. To start, these weigh practically nothing. The metal content is minimal, it’s mostly some sort of carbon fiber, but I’ve honestly never seen it before. And the things you can do with it! It’s got an automatic, burst and semi-automatic mode, it fires upwards of one thousand rounds per minute on full-auto and you can even use it underwater!” Kato paused to take a deep breath. “I mean, your accuracy ain’t gonna be worth shit if you do, but you can.”

“So what does all this mean?”

“It means these suckers aren’t a street gang, they’re closer to a goddamn military operation. You remember those guns Hiroshi Sato was selling to the triads?”

“Vaguely,” Lin replied. In truth, Kato had been essential to cracking that case, but anything other than an indirect mention to that fact caused him to start retelling his “war stories” and Lin wasn’t exactly in the mood.

“Well, those might as well have been fuckin’ slingshots compared to these.”

Okay, so far, Kato had just given Lin information that would’ve scared a lesser person shitless, but it still hadn’t given her anything she could use. Time for the million yuan question. “So who made these?”

For the first time since she met him, Kato looked at a loss for words. “I dunno,” he said eventually. “These guns are one hundred percent custom jobs, so there are no serial numbers or manufacturing logos to track and the ballistics don’t match anything in the database.” He scratched his chin, thoughtfully. “On the bright side, they don’t seem to be mass-produced, so their numbers must be pretty limited.”

“Well, that’s a relief,” Lin said, sarcasm dripping from every word. “I have to get back up there, let me know if you come up with anything else.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. Her headache was getting worse.

One excruciatingly slow elevator ride later, Lin was back in her office. As she was digging through her desk drawers for a bottle of aspirin, one of the stations phone operators came barging in. 

“Chief, sorry to disturb you, but I thought you’d want to hear about this one.” The woman--Lin couldn’t quite place her name at the moment--looked like she’d seen a ghost.

“It’s alright. Go on,” Lin said, her search for aspirin momentarily forgotten. Apparently, they had gotten a call from a pedestrian who noticed that the door to a house was left open. He called to see if anyone was inside, which was when he noticed the blood splattered on the walls. He opened the door all the way to reveal three men dead on the ground bleeding from well… everywhere.

“Do we have any traffic cameras near that location?” Lin asked.

“We do. One has a clear shot of the door in question.”

Five minutes later, Lin was in front of the monitor with the footage from the cam pulled up. “The call came in at 2:43 PM,” the operator said. The footage was rewinded until at around 14:41, according to the time stamp, they saw their witness appear. Just like he said in his call, he peeked into the house, opened the door, and then proceeded to run outside and retch on the sidewalk. A minute later, after he composed himself, he pulled out his cellphone and made the call.

“Go back to last night, midnight,” Lin said. On the requested time there was still plenty of traffic, and the crime scene’s door seemed fully shut. “Fast forward.” The hours flew by, the traffic slowing, then disappearing altogether until 04:18, when a lone car stopped outside the crime scene. “There.”

Two men emerged from the car. It was hard to tell from the video’s quality, but one of them seemed to be wearing an outfit very similar to the three who were in lock-up. The other’s was less skin-tight and he seemed to be wearing a hood.

The first man kicked the door to the crime scene, causing it to swing open. Rather than brandish a weapon or any sort of offensive stance, he just stepped aside and allowed the hooded man to enter. He was inside for less than two minutes.

After he emerged, the hooded man exchanged some words with the other, who then got into the car. The man in the hood then pulled the door closed and turned to look straight at the camera. It was then that Lin could see that the man also wore some sort of ceramic mask that covered his entire face.

“Tell Zhang to get her ass down there immediately!” Lin barked. The bastard in the mask was trying to send a message. He knew the camera was there. He left the door open for any person to stumble upon his handiwork. He was mocking them, daring them to come after him. Well, Lin Beifong was never one to back down from a challenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late again. I know, I suck. Sorry for the short chapter, the next one will be considerably longer.  
> As always, enjoy and comment!


	7. The Man in the Mask Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thematically, I guess this chapter fits better with the previous arc that this one, but putting it before the last chapter would've fucked with the chronology, so... *shrug*  
> You can consider this Enter the Avatar Pt. 6 if you REALLY want to.

**Asami**

“Ms. Sato.”

Asami started as the intercom in her office called her name. “Yeah, Feng?”

“It’s one o’clock ma’am. Time for you to go home.”

Asami groaned. It was _that_ day again. Still, she knew better than to argue with Feng. The man was relentless. Instead, she started packing up, readying herself for an afternoon of doing absolutely nothing except worrying about what was going on at Future Industries without her.

With her briefcase packed up, she headed out of her office, passing Feng’s desk on her way. “Have a nice day, Ms. Sato.”

“I really hate you, you know that?” Asami shot. Nothing like creating a positive work environment.

“Please. You’d be lost without me.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Feng.” Asami made her way out of the building and to her car. Inside, she used her phone to try to access the Future Industries systems, but she was summarily kicked out. _Goddammit, Feng!_ she thought. She tries to be a good boss and give him admin access at his insistence (because she “needs to learn how to delegate more”) and what does the little shit do with it? He blocks her access to the FI intranet from any computer that wasn’t on-site. Asami wasn’t stupid. She knew that without Feng to reign her in she’d probably work herself to exhaustion. But did he have to be so insufferable about it?

Resigned to suffer through the rest of the day, Asami put her car in gear and sped home. Except she wouldn’t, she remembered as she accelerated to catch a yellow light. Korra was supposed to drop by her house that day, if she could find it. Asami regretted not giving her more than an internet search in order to find her house, but it wasn’t like she carried business cards in her Tempest outfit. Still, she could’ve scribbled down her cell number somewhere.

Well, that was in the past. Either Korra would find her house or she wouldn’t. Although, Asami was really looking forward to spending some more time with her. Part of it was just curiosity: she really wanted to know what the deal was with the magic kites. But the other part was solidarity. She thought of how much easier her double life had become once she had Mako and Bolin backing her up. If she could offer the same support to Korra, then she would.

It was quarter to two by the time she pulled into her home garage. Once inside, she made a beeline straight to the living room, the one with the big TV and the best internet connection. Asami immediately fell on the largest, comfiest couch. She pulled out her phone and started browsing the internet, although it wasn’t long before she got bored. She put her phone down on the coffee table and decided to rest her eyes just for a second...

“Hey! Asami!”

“Wuh-” She’d dozed off. She looked up to see Korra standing above her. “Hey. When’d you get here?”

“Just a minute ago. One of the staff told me you were here. Sorry I interrupted you nap.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Asami sat up. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Yeah, me too. This was really cool of you. So how come a high-powered businesswoman gets to come home at this hour?” Korra asked, taking a seat next to Asami.

“It’s my monthly half-day,” she replied with a sigh. “My assistant insists I take them. He says I work too hard.”

“Well, you do work seven days a week,” Korra said, reminding Asami of her… less than productive meeting last Sunday.

“True, but most of the time I just wind up here doing nothing but stressing. It’s kind of counterproductive.”

Korra chuckled. “It’s a good thing you have me here to keep you distracted then.”

“Definitely.”

Just then, Korra’s phone started buzzing like crazy. Korra pulled it out with a “sorry, just one second,” and groaned at the flood of texts she received. She muttered something under her breath about painfully murdering someone, which piqued Asami’s curiosity.

“So who was that?” she asked after Korra put her phone back in her pocket.

“Just Opal, my roommate.” There was something in Korra’s voice that just begged for more information.

“And why exactly are you going to murder her?”

Korra blushed so hard it was visible even despite her dark skin. “No reason.”

Asami said nothing, merely gazing at Korra with her best “business-stare”. Mouth in a thin line, eyes narrowed and one eyebrow slightly raised.

“Alright, fine!” Korra relented. Business-stare.Works every time. “Opal caught me looking you up on the internet and I let it slip that we were hanging out today. When she asked me why I kinda dodged the question since, y’know, I couldn’t tell her the real reason, so now she thinks this is… a date.”

Asami was stunned. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t this. “So you’re…”

“Super gay, yeah.”

“So the other night, Wildfire…”

“Yup… Landslide had to talk him down. I mean, he seemed like a nice guy, only problem is he’s… a guy.”

Well, that explained the scorch marks in the Tower's gym. Poor Mako. Korra made, what, the third lesbian he had try to hit on? It was starting to become a pattern with him. “Eh, he’ll get over it. And speaking from personal experience, he makes a better friend than he does a boyfriend.”

Korra’s eyes went wide. “You and Wildfire dated!?”

“A long time ago. We kept it pretty well under wraps though, not many people knew about it.”

“Man, and to think I shit on the comics so much when Electrowoman and Blaze started going at it. Wait, did they know about it?”

Asami shrugged. “I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure they noticed we were part of the same team and decided to pair us up. That storyline didn’t happen until after we broke up.” Asami noticed Korra was smirking at her. “What?”

“I thought you didn’t know about comics,” she said.

“Hey, it’s my own damn book, of course I know about it.” Asami ran a hand through her hair. “But seriously, I don’t understand how you slog through them, they kind of suck.”

“I know, but they were based on you… or rather, Tempest. Besides, you have to admit the origin story is really badass.” Korra’s eyes lit up. “Which reminds me, I haven’t heard yours.”

Asami sighed. “Are you sure you want to hear it? It isn’t exactly a happy story.”

“Are they ever? Besides, I told you mine. Fair’s fair.”

It was clear Korra wasn’t going to back down from this. “My mom was murdered when I was six,” Asami began. _Told you so,_ she thought at Korra’s shocked expression. “Some men from the Agni Kai Triad wanted to rob the estate and killed her when it went sideways. My father… didn’t take her death well. The men who broke in were all sentenced to life in prison, but that wasn’t enough for him. He wanted the Agni Kais destroyed.

“He started selling military-grade weapons to their enemies, the Red Monsoons and the Terras, convinced that they would wipe the Agni Kais off the map. But with the underworld being what it is, the Agni Kais eventually got their hands on those same weapons. With them, the gang violence not only escalated, but the city’s police were massively outgunned. Basically, my father’s the reason this whole city is one giant cesspool of crime and corruption.

“I was nineteen when he got caught. I had just graduated from college and suddenly found myself at the head of a failing company. No one trusted Future Industries anymore. I spent the next year salvaging my company’s reputation on top of getting an MBA in order to convince a bunch of bitter old men I knew what the hell I was talking about. After the company stablized, I took a look at the city and realized I couldn’t just turn my back on it. Not after what my father had done. That’s how Tempest was born. She allowed me to save the city my father destroyed.”

After Asami finished her story they were both silent for a while, before Korra blurted out, “So much cooler than the comics.”

Asami laughed. “Okay, that was certainly not the reaction I expected.”

“Shit, did I say that out loud?” Korra asked, blushing furiously.

“It’s alright. Trust me, I prefer it to the pity-fest I got from Landslide and Wildfire.” She wasn’t kidding. Bolin had hugged her and wouldn’t let go until she threatened to shock him. “Anyway, now that my origin’s out of the way, I wanted to ask you something. About Raava.”

Korra shifted in her seat. “Alright, shoot.”

“I’m just a bit confused on how her logic is working. She came to warn you about this other big, scary kite, but she didn’t say anything about it--what it is, how soon it’s getting here--before you erm… fused?”

“Yeah. I mean, judging by the flashes I got when we first joined, I guess we were supposed to be able to communicate with each other.” Korra shrugged. “She probably thought she’d have plenty of time to talk to me. I guess she just didn’t count on me being so closed-off.”

Asami nodded. “And you said that Mayor Gyatso is trying to help you get in contact with her, right?”

“Well, he is the son of one of the most famously spiritual people in recent history, but believe me, we’ve tried everything. Meditation, hypnosis, smoking truly ridiculous amounts of weed… nothing works.”

Asami’s brain short-circuited for a second. _Hold on, did she just say what I think she said?_ “You’re smoking marijuana with Tenzin Gyatso? The mayor of Republic City?”

“Not really,” Korra said sheepishly. “That one I’m doing without his knowledge. Besides, all I get nowadays is the crappy stuff from the RCU dealers. It’s horrible compared to what I get back home.”

Before she even finished her last sentence, Asami was already on her feet. “Wait here,” she said. She quickly walked up the stairs to her room and grabbed the small chest that was hidden in the corner. She grabbed it, making sure the key was still taped to the bottom (no one would think to look for the key to the chest on the chest itself… flawless logic) and made her way back down to Korra. When she came back into the living room, the Water Tribe girl was staring at her with a perplexed expression. Asami ignored it and set the chest down on the coffee table and used the key to unlock it.

“You’re going to love this,” she told Korra. With a flourish, she opened the chest to reveal a stash of unbelievable proportions. Several pipes, a bong, blunt wrappers, papers and bags upon bags of weed.

“Holy-- this is--” Korra stuttered.

“I know, right? This is Zaofu-grown, hydroponic stuff too. Expensive, but trust me, it’s well-worth it.” Korra started to reach towards the chest, when Asami slammed it shut. “Not yet,” she said. “First, I have another question.”

“You’re killing me here,” Korra groaned. “Fine, what is it?”

“How good are you at hand-to-hand combat?”

Korra looked at Asami as if she had just asked her whether she was half platypus-bear. “I’m alright, I guess? I haven’t done much since I got my bending, ‘cause… bending.”

“That settles it, then. We’re going to the gym.”

“Uh, Asami? I’m not exactly dressed for that.” Korra said, gesturing at her jeans and t-shirt attire.

“Don’t worry,” Asami replied. “I’m sure I’ve got something you can borrow.”

* * *

 

Twenty minutes later Asami was facing an annoyed-looking Korra in her estate’s gym. They were both standing on a sparring mat, in workout clothes and hand wraps. “Welcome to the Asami Sato School of Ass-Kicking,” she declared.

Korra sighed. “Why are we doing this, again?”

“You remember Landslide getting shot last Saturday? The reason the guy who shot him was able to do that is because he blocked Landslide’s bending. Temporarily, but still… if it happens in the middle of a battle against others like him, you need to be able to defend yourself, even without your bending.”

Korra winced at the memory. She had been the one to heal Landslide, after all. “Okay, fair point.  So what do you want me to do?”

“Attack me, without bending. Don’t worry, I’ll take it easy on you.” She made sure to add a hint of mockery to her voice at the end there, which proved effective, as Korra launched towards her.

Asami dodged two quick jabs, and blocked a kick aimed at her midsection with her forearm. Okay, good. Those muscles weren’t just for show. Korra definitely had power behind her attacks. Her problem was finesse. She telegraphed her punches something fierce, making it an easy matter for Asami to get out of the way before they landed. Korra also seemed to pour every bit of energy she could into every attack. She would wear herself out soon, and all Asami had to do to win was keep moving and not get hit. After enduring a few more of Korra’s attacks, Asami motioned for her to stop.

“So, did you figure out why you couldn’t hit me?” Asami asked.

“Because you’re freakishly fast?” Korra replied, panting.

“Not quite.” The next hour was spent with Korra and Asami going through move sets together, Asami instructing Korra on speed and conserving energy. In the end, they had both worked up a sweat, and when they sparred again again at the end of the lesson, Korra managed to trip Asami up a couple of times. Of course, Asami was still going easy on her, but Korra didn’t need to know that.

“How come you’re so good at fighting?” Korra asked after the lesson.

“It wasn’t overnight, if that’s what you mean. I’ve been in self-defense classes since I was six years old.”

“Since you were…” Realization dawned on Korra. “Oh.”

“Yeah. My father wanted me to be able to defend myself. One of the few things he did right, I guess.” Asami shook herself out of her momentary funk. “Anyway, you ready to get your blaze on?” She cringed internally. _What the fuck did I just say?_

It seemed Korra shared her opinion. “Sure. But please, never say that again.”

“Agreed.”

* * *

 

Back on the couch, Asami was just lighting the first joint when she felt Korra’s gaze. “What?” she asked.

“Are you going to explain this?” Korra said gesturing at the chest.

“I have a stressful job, okay? This helps me relax,” Asami replied, taking a puff from the joint and offering it to Korra.

“No, I get that, believe me.” Korra took a puff of her own. “I just mean that you have enough weed here to open your own dispensary.”

“I buy in bulk. Now shut up, and let’s watch TV.” Asami turned the device on and changed the channel until she found one which was playing that cartoon with the kid and his magic dog. Not a polar bear dog or a squirrel-dog. Just a dog. That show was weird…

A couple of episodes and two joints later, Asami felt a familiar craving. She had the munchies. “Hey Korra, you want something to eat?”

Korra’s eyes lit up at the suggestion. “Oh my god, I thought you’d never ask.”

Asami picked up a cordless phone from its dock and dialed the kitchen. “Daichi, you there?”

“Right here, Asami,” came the reply. “What’s up?”

“We need food!”

“You’re gonna need to be a little more specific than that,” Daichi said, obviously trying to hold back his laughter.

“Right, right. Korra, what do you want?”

“Cookies!” was the immediate answer. “Erm, chocolate chip, please.”

“Chocolate chip cookies and… iced tea?” She looked back at Korra for confirmation on the drink order, who nodded.

“Alright, give me twenty minutes.”

“Who was that?” Korra asked after Asami hung up.

“Daichi, my personal chef.” Asami noticed Korra was about to open her mouth, probably to say something snarky, so she preempted it. “And before you say anything, he’s basically the only reason I stay in shape. I can’t cook for shit. If he weren’t here, do you know how much take-out I’d have to eat?”

“And yet, you just asked him to make you cookies,” was Korra’s smug reply.

“Yeah, because you asked for them!”

“Whatever,” Korra said, still smirking. Asami decided to be the bigger person and ignore that, turning her attention back to the TV. After another episode, she heard a knock on the door.

“Shit,” Asami said, quickly shoving everything back in the chest and closing it. “Come in!”

The door opened to reveal Daichi, holding a tray of cookies and a pitcher of iced tea. “After the way you were acting over the phone, I figured it was better if I made the delivery myself,” he said.

“I have no idea what you mean,” Asami replied, as Daichi set everything down on the coffee table.

Daichi snorted. “Oh, come off it Asami, it reeks in here. Now, are you gonna share or not?”

Grumbling, Asami reached into the chest and produced a joint. She held it out towards Daichi and snatched it back at the last second. “You smoke this at home. You’re still on the clock here.”

“Fine, fine,” he replied, taking the joint. “Slave driver.” He left the living room, leaving Korra and Asami alone again.

“So, do you share your weed with all your staff?” Korra asked.

“Nah, Daichi’s a special case. You know, he used to be a pirate.” Asami grabbed two cookies from the tray and handed one to Korra.

“No shit?”

“No shit.”

The pair dug into the cookies and tea, both of them expressing their appreciation for Daichi’s culinary skills over and over.

“I swear to god, these are the greatest things I’ve ever put in my mouth,” Korra said for the twentieth time.

“And you were mocking me for having a personal chef.”

“I was so wrong. I see that now,” Korra replied enthusiastically, reaching for another cookie.

“Korra, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, anything.”

Asami had been wanting to ask this for most of the afternoon, but didn’t know how, not wanting to offend Korra. Still, she figured she might as well ask and clear the air. “You know how your roommate thought this was a date?”

“Yeah…” Korra replied hesitantly, obviously aware of where this was going.

“Well… were you hoping it was?” Asami mentally kicked herself. _Really? This is how you asked her?_

Korra avoided Asami’s gaze. “Um… a little? That doesn’t weird you out or anything, does it?”

“Of course not,” Asami said quickly. The last thing she wanted was Korra to think she made her uncomfortable. “If anything, it’s kind of flattering.”

Korra raised her head to meet Asami’s gaze, a small smile on her lips. “Well, that’s a relief. But just so that everything’s one hundred percent clear, you are…”

“Tragically, heterosexual,” Asami replied.

Korra laughed. “I guess that’s one way to put it.” She grabbed the TV remote. “You in the mood for more cartoons?”

“Go for it,” Asami said, lighting another joint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, the Korrasami will come eventually...  
> Mako and I seem have the same problem of developing crushes on ladies exclusively interested in the fairer sex. It kind of sucks.  
> Anyways, read, enjoy, comment, etc.  
> P.S. Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies when you have the munchies are like the best thing EVAR


	8. The Man in the Mask Pt. 3

**Mako**

Nothing. Four days of investigating and nothing. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. They had three fewer crackhouses in the city, courtesy of their friend in the mask. In every one, they found pretty much the same thing. Bodies piled up, blood everywhere. A message written on the walls: “Amon is the solution.”

Good news was, they were now a hundred percent sure that the man in the mask was this “Amon”, for all the good it did them. that little tidbit came from their friends down in holding. Mako showed them a picture taken from the traffic cam and they had confirmed the man’s identity.

“Hey,” Jia said from behind him, breaking Mako out of his brooding. “Ready for another hour of getting sullenly stared at?”

Mako groaned. Every twelve hours for the past four days, they’d taken the three gangsters he and the Avatar apprehended into an interrogation room. What followed was some of the most unproductive police work he’d ever done. The three just quietly glared at him and Jia all the way through, until the allotted time was up and they had to be returned to their cells. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Paperwork in hand, Mako and Jia walked over to the holding cells, but before they could speak to the sergeant they were stopped by a middle-aged, balding man. “Identify yourselves,” he barked.

“Detectives Shih and Zhang, here to interrogate the prisoners in cell four,” Mako said, as he and Jia pulled out their badges.

“Not anymore. From now on, anything to do with Amon and his gang is under my jurisdiction.”

“By whose orders?” Jia asked.

“That’s need-to-know only, Detective,” the man replied.

“Saikhan! What are you doing in my building?” Mako turned to see a very pissed-off Lin Beifong storming into the room.

“I’m just preparing some prisoners for transfer to the 7th, Chief. I’ll be out in a minute,” Saikhan said, his previous haughtiness gone.

“Which prisoners? And why the hell wasn’t I informed of this?”

“The ones in cell four,” Jia said.

“Sorry Chief, but the orders come from high up. A task-force is being formed to deal with this new threat to the city, so all resources to that end are under my control.”

Beifong stared down Saikhan, who was now visibly sweating. “Fine,” she said, backing down. “Take them.”

Mako was taken aback. “Chief, we can’t just--”

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion, Detective! In fact, you two, my office, now!”

Leaving a very self-satisfied Saikhan behind, Mako and Jia were marched into Beifong’s office. Once inside, Mako started up once again. “What the hell, Chief? Those three were the biggest lead we had, and you’re just going to let them walk out of here?”

“Shih, shut up for a second,” Beifong said, rubbing her temples. “Listen. Saikhan is a worm. Always has been. And he’s always in someone’s pocket. If that person was able to go over my head, then they’re pretty fucking high up the food chain.”

“So what, we should just drop the entire investigation?” Jia asked.

“Did you hear me say that? Of course we’re not dropping it, we’re just going to have to be more careful about it.”

Mako smiled. “Understood.”

“Now that that’s over with, give me a progress report.”

Jia looked at the file in her hands with a degree of reluctance. “You’re not going to like it,” she said.

Beifong said nothing, she stood there with her arms crossed, waiting for Jia to continue. “The coroner thinks… that Amon’s victims were bloodbended.”

Mako could understand Jia’s hesitation to tell the Chief that information. It was ridiculous. Bloodbending was a campfire story, told to scare people shitless. It didn’t actually exist! Beifong, however, seemed to take this theory in stride. “He’s certain of that?”

“It would make sense,” Mako cut in. “The victims all died from massive hemorrhaging, yet none of them have visible wounds. They could’ve been slowly bled out with a needle, but…”

“According to the traffic video, Amon was inside the house for less than two minutes,” Beifong finished. “This means that Amon is a waterbender. How many do we have in the city?”

“About thirty with any significant amount of power,” Jia said, flipping to another page on her report. “A dozen or so work for hospitals as healers. Then you have your masseuses and therapists and a few of the higher-ups of the Red Monsoon Triad. Oh, and the Wolfbat and the Avatar.”

“Can you narrow that down any?” the Chief asked.

“We can probably cross out the Red Monsoons,” Mako said. “Two of the crackhouses that were hit were in their territory. They wouldn’t kill their own customers.”

“The civilians will have to provide alibis,” Jia added. “But that should be relatively simple to get. That just leaves the Supers, although we can probably cross the Avatar off the list. According to Wildfire, she was helping his team the night the first murders happened.”

“So the only guarantee that one psycho in a mask isn’t also another, different psycho in a mask is the word of a third psycho in a mask,” Beifong said, chuckling. “Great. What about the Wolfbat?”

“The guy’s a complete glory hound,” Mako replied. “He can do some fancy stuff with water, so he decided to put on a mask and get famous. It wouldn’t make sense for him to suddenly go on a killing spree. It’s a lot more probable that Amon is someone who is not on our list.”

“I agree,” Jia said.

“Fine. But I still want those alibis, and I want you to keep a close eye on those two.” She pointed at the images of the two waterbending superheroes. “But for now, you both go home.”

Mako looked at his watch. It was barely five. “Seriously, Chief?”

“Seriously. You both look like shit. When was the last time you got more than four hours of sleep?”

“Sometime last week?” Jia muttered.

“Okay. So, go home, rest up, and be here tomorrow bright and early.”

Mako and Jia returned to their desks and began packing up their stuff. Jia called her boyfriend to let him know that, for once, she’d be coming home early. “So, that new dumpling place you wanted to try, you wanna go there? Alright. Love you too. Bye.”

“So how’s Ken doing?” Mako asked.

“Pretty good. He finally found another job. Although now our schedules are all over the place. It actually kind of sucks, especially when we want to have a date night or something.”

“I’m sure you’ll work it out,” Mako said, with a reassuring smile. “Hey, you know what the deal is with Beifong and Supers?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean… okay, every time Wildfire calls one of us and we go to Beifong with a lead, she trusts it, because yeah, it usually pays off. But then, every time one of them even seems to step a toe out of line she seems to try her hardest to make them answer for it. Almost like she’s hoping they’re guilty. I just don’t get it.”

“Oh my god, you don’t know,” Jia said, trying to hold in her laughter. “You see? This is what you get for never going out for drinks with us.”

Mako sighed. “I know, I know, I’m an antisocial asshole and I’m lucky you even give me the time of day. Can you just fill me in?”

“You remember Icestorm?”

“Yeah. Waterbending super, retired about a decade back, right?”

“Right. Well, scuttlebutt around the station is her and the Chief used to have a thing. And it apparently did not end well.”

Mako could not contain his laughter. “Holy shit, seriously? So, do you think the Chief knows Icestorm’s identity?”

“Probably. Unless she kept her mask on in bed.”

“Kinky,” Mako muttered. He looked up to see Jia staring at him, wide-eyed. “What?”

“You… actually made a joke!” She punched his arm. “I knew you had it in you!”

“Okay, first off, ow!” Mako said rubbing his arm. “And second, I can make jokes. I do it all the time!”

“Bad one-liners and puns don’t count, Mako,” Jia replied, punching Mako again in the exact same spot. “Hey, can you give me a ride back to my apartment? My car’s still at the shop.”

“Sure,” Mako said. He fished his keys out of his pocket and lobbed them at Jia. “I’ll meet you outside, I just have to use the bathroom real quick.”

Once in the men’s room Mako made sure all the stalls were empty before locking the door. He then took out his communicator from the hidden pocket inside his jacket and pulled up Tempest.  _ Asami said she was going to be with the Avatar today, right? _ He shrugged to himself and dialed. Worst-case scenario, he wasted a phone call.

After several rings, he heard Asami on the other end fumbling with her communicator before putting it to her ear. “Yo,” she said. Immediately, he knew something was off.

“Tempest?”

“Heeey, Wildfire! What’s up?” Mako frowned. Asami was definitely acting weird. He already had a sneaking suspicion as to the reason why.

“Are you with the Avatar right now?”

“Yup, she’s right here. Hang on, let me put you on speaker.”

“Can you do that? Are you in a safe location?”

“Yeah, I’m in my house and the Avatar and I are alone. Calm down, Grumpypants.”

Okay, that settled it. “Tempest, are you high right now?”

Silence. Then; “Maybe?”

Mako pinched the bridge of his nose. “You do remember what my day job is, right?” He could hear stifled giggles in the background, presumably from the Avatar.

“To be fair, this time I had a perfectly legitimate reason for smoking.”

_ This oughta be good. _ “And that would be?”

“We’re trying to commune with the Avatar Spirit.”

“The fuck’s an ‘Avatar Spirit’?” the Avatar asked.

“You know, Raava. She’s bonded with you and is the source of your powers and all… Avatar Spirit.”

“Ooh, I like that.”

“Can we get back on track here?” Mako interjected.

“Yeah, sure. Go ahead, Captain Buzzkill.”

“We’re investigating the gang we ran into this past weekend. We’ve got a lead, but it’s kind of tenuous. It has to do with waterbending so I thought maybe you could give us some information, Avatar.”

“Yeah, no problem,” the Avatar replied. “Lemme just ask you something first. Do you use a lot of lube?”

“What for?” Mako asked and immediately kicked himself for falling for the all-too-obvious set-up.

“Getting that stick up your ass every morning.” Mako had to hold the communicator away from his ear as Asami’s extremely loud cackling blared through the speaker. After a solid minute, the laughter finally died down and Mako spoke again.

“Could you just take me off speaker, please?”

“Yeah, let me just--” Asami’s voice came through as she wrestled with the communicator’s settings.

“So why does he call you Tempest?” he heard the Avatar ask. “We both know who you are. What’s the point?”

“It’s a rule we came up with. Code names only over the communicator.” The sound muted, which meant Asami was done fiddling with the settings. “Here,” Mako heard faintly, as Asami handed the phone to the Avatar.

“So what’s this about?” she asked.

Mako proceeded to explain the situation with Amon and his attacks. “We have a theory that Amon used bloodbending to do these things. Problem is, noone’s ever actually witnessed bloodbending before. Basically I’m asking if you know anything about it.”

The Avatar was silent for a long moment. After a while she spoke. “This stays between us, right?”

“Of course,” Mako said.

Mako heard as the Avatar took a deep breath. “Bloodbending is real.”

“Can you do it?” he asked.

“I guess in theory?” the Avatar replied, hesitantly. “I’m supposed to have command over all forms of bending. Never actually tried it though.”

“But you know someone who does.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah. But before you get too excited, she’s ancient and she lives like a thousand miles away, so she’s not your man.” 

Mako sighed, slightly disappointed, but the Avatar actually knowing Amon was about the longest of longshots anyway. “Can you tell me anything about it?”

“Only what I heard from her. She only ever used it a couple of times when she was young. She said it felt awful, that she never wanted to do it again. And she could only do it during a full moon.”

Mako frowned. If the part about the full moon was true, that meant Amon was in a different league altogether. There had barely been a sliver of a moon in the sky for the past few days. “Alright, thanks for the information,” he said. “I’ll see you around.”

“Yeah, later.” She disconnected the call.

Mako placed his communicator back in its place and made his way down to the parking garage to meet Jia. She was sitting in the passenger seat of his car, blaring music and idly bending what she referred to as her lucky coin between her fingers.  _ This isn’t good. _

He got into the car, turned the radio’s volume down and and put it in reverse pulling out of the parking garage and heading down the road. “What is it?” he asked.

“What is what?”

“You only ever pull out that coin when you’re thinking of doing something really stupid. So spill.”

Jia hesitated for a second, then said, “I’m thinking of petitioning to join the Task Force.”

Mako slammed on the brakes, earning a hink from the driver behind him. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m going to run it past Beifong first, but yes, I am serious. This is some shady black-ops shit Mako, and I don’t like it. We’re going to need someone on the inside.”

“And that should be you?”

“Do you have someone better in mind?”

“Well, no, but--”

“You need to relax. I’m just thinking about it at this point. Besides, Beifong will probably shoot me down as soon as I mention it.”

Mako couldn’t really argue with that. “Just be careful. And tell Ken before you decide anything. He deserves to know what you’re getting into.”

Jia nodded. “Fair enough.”

Mako put the car back into gear. He drove the rest of the way in silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys. Yeah, I skipped another week. And just a heads up, I'm probably gonna skip next week too. College's kinda been kicking my ass.  
> On to other stuff: I want to explain something about my version of the universe that I probably should've done in the first chapter. As you may have noticed, bending is much rarer here than in the main universe. But also, most of the people who can bend have extremely limited powers. For example, Jia is a metalbender, but she'd be hard-pressed to manipulate something larger than her lucky coin or a decently-sized pebble. In the same way, a firebender could maybe always have a cigarette lighter handy but not much else. That's why the few that have the power levels seen normally in the show are superheroes.  
> Ok, that's enough of that, just enjoy, comment, critique, all that good stuff


	9. The Man in the Mask Pt. 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys... waddup? Been a while, huh? (Yes, I know, over half a year... please don't hurt me)  
> I won't bore you with the details, but basically life happened. Also, this chapter refused to be written for the longest time for some reason. Anyways, I'm back, and while I can't promise I'll update once a week anymore, the updates will be fairly regular (I hope... I already started on chapter 10 if it makes you feel any better.)  
> So please enjoy, and leave a comment, even if it's just to tell me how much you hate me.  
> P.S. I went back and edited the previous chapters. Nothing major, just a few tweaks to make some parts flow better.

**The Lieutenant**

Lee stared at the mask in his hands.  He hesitated before putting it on, pulling the goggles slowly over his eyes. He was aware what the mask represented. While wearing it, he would do terrible things, all in the name of the greater good. While wearing it he had no name, no past. He was simply the Lieutenant, Amon’s second-in-command. He breathed in sharply, preparing himself for what was to come.

Tonight was the night. The culmination of everything they’d worked for so far. If tonight went well, their plans would enter Phase Two. He walked across the warehouse with firm, determined steps. All around him, his soldiers were loading and checking weapons, getting ready for their missions.

The goal was to effectively cripple the Agni Kais, Republic City’s most powerful Triad, in a single night. Terminate their operations, cut off their cash flow, take out their leaders. Quick and surgical. This also meant that they were going to have as many as ten teams out on the field at once, which made this operation a logistical nightmare.

The Lieutenant reached the back of the warehouse, where a private, closed-off section housed one of their greatest assets. “What do you have for us this time, Mr. Sato?”

Getting Hiroshi Sato out of prison and into their employment had been relatively simple. All it took was a convincing look-alike (aided with some minor plastic surgery) a waylaid prison transport, and quite a few bribes. It helped that the only person who could probably tell the difference between the double and the real thing, Hiroshi’s daughter Asami, hadn’t once in three years gone to visit him in prison. Getting him to agree to work for them had been too easy, once he was told of their organization’s goals.

“I’m actually really proud of this one,” Hiroshi said, pulling out what looked like a grenade from a case. “It’s essentially a fire extinguisher. Guaranteed to counteract any firebenders your teams encounter.”

“How many do we have?”

“I can have about three dozen of them made by the time the teams head out.”

“Excellent. Keep up the good work.”

The Lieutenant left Hiroshi’s “office,” briefly stopping by his own to pick up a few files. Those in hand, he made his way to the warehouse’s upper level, where the control center was. Inside, Noatak--no, Amon, he was Amon when the mask was on--was waiting for him. He was presiding over his army, watching the preparations underway from his vantage point.

“Sir, I have the reports from last week’s missions.” He always detested the theatrics they had to go through, but they all had their parts to play. “All civilian and police casualties fell within the accepted parameters.” Their part was that of the villains, and collateral damage was an inevitable side effect of that role. Still, they did their best not to go over the line.

“Good,” Amon said turning towards the Lieutenant. “How long until we are ready to move out?”

“Everything should be in place by 2000 hours. I assume you will be joining Alpha Team?”

“I am. I have to do what must be done. You understand this, right?” A little of Noatak’s warmth crept into Amon’s voice as he said this. He understood the necessity of their mission, but bending had always made him uneasy. And bloodbending, well… it was another level of perverse. But he trusted Noatak, and if he said that this was necessary, then it was.

“I guess I’m coming with Alpha Team too, then.”

Amon tensed. It was barely noticeable, but Lee knew Noatak better than anyone. He could perfectly picture the look of worry that was beneath the mask. “You shouldn’t. There are some things I don’t want you to see.”

“It’s too late for that. We agreed when we started this, that I’d be beside you every step of the way. Besides, I was standing right outside every crackhouse you hit.”

“Exactly,” Noatak said. “You were  _ outside _ . You didn’t see what I did. What has to happen today… you’ll be right in the thick of it.”

Lee nodded, resolute. “Every step of the way,” he repeated.

Noatak took Lee’s hands in his and looked into his eyes. “All right. You are putting your trust in me. I should be able to do the same.”

“That’s all I ask.”

“Very well, Lieutenant,” Amon said, releasing his hands. “Go oversee the final preparations. I want the men ready to move out ASAP.”

“Yes, sir.” The Lieutenant saluted and turned on his heel, going back downstairs to address his men.

* * *

 

The Lieutenant gripped the truck’s steering wheel tightly. Alpha Team was in position outside Zolt’s estate, so it was a waiting game now. Amon was beside him and they had ten other men in the back of the truck, but even with all that, the estate was too-well fortified. If they charged in now, they would probably all get cut down before they reached the front door. That’s where the other teams came in. They would attack different Agni Kai operations across the city in an attempt to draw manpower and protection away from Zolt.

“Teams Bravo and Delta have engaged their targets,” the radio operator said. “That makes all teams present and accounted for.”

“Any movement from inside?” Amon asked the lookout.

“None yet, sir.”

Twelve minutes passed before the lookout spoke again. “I see movement. I count thirty-four men leaving the estate.”

Thirty-four. That was more than the Lieutenant expected, but less than he’d hoped. Than meant they’d still have at least twenty men to deal with inside. They waited another ten minutes to make sure none would make it in time, should word get out to them about the assault on the estate. The Lieutenant got out and opened the back of the truck. The men climbed out and stood at attention.

“Alright, men,” the Lieutenant said, “we want a quick, surgical assault. We’re operating under the assumption that Zolt kept all his firebenders close to him. Fortunately, our benefactor made us some new toys to counteract this.” As he said this, he pulled out one of the grenades Sato has shown him earlier. “Shoot to kill, but remember, we want Zolt alive. Weapons free.”

With that, the men headed towards the estate gates, placing small plastic explosives to blow it off its hinges, as the Lieutenant started a timer on his watch. Amon and the Lieutenant hung back, waiting while the men did a sweep of the garden. Several shots rang out and after thirty seconds, the Lieutenant heard a voice in his ear. “All clear.”

He and Amon walked straight towards the front door, the Lieutenant using a grenade to blow the heavy slab of wood open. Automatic gunfire came from the inside, causing the Lieutenant to scramble for cover, but Amon simply raised a hand and the firing stopped.

As the smoke cleared, the Lieutenant was able to see five men suspended in the air, their faces contorted in pain. He stepped through the threshold with Amon. “All units, converge on our position,” he barked into his mic. His men soon appeared around him. “You two,” he said pointing at the first through the door. “With me. The rest of you, search the house, room by room. Secure any possible escape routes.”

The Lieutenant jumped as a shot rang out. He looked up and realized that one of the bloodbent men had managed to raise his rifle and squeeze off a shot. His heart leapt to his throat when he realized there was now a smoking bullet hole on the wall, two inches from Noatak’s head.

Amon, however, didn’t even flinch. Instead, he made the man who shot at him point his gun at each of the other four Agni Kais he was holding. One by one, the man unwillingly executed his friends, until he was forced to turn his gun on himself. One last shot rang out and the man slumped over, dead. Amon lowered his hand, and five corpses fell unceremoniously onto the floor.

For some time, Lee could do nothing but stare, wide-eyed. He had been warned numerous times, but still, actually seeing the things Noatak could do…  _ No--Amon did this, not Noatak _ , he thought, desperately trying to convince himself.

He was shaken out of his stupor by a voice in his ear informing him that the ground floor was secure. He looked down at his wrist. 4:34. “Good,” he replied. “Move on to the second floor.”

According to inside sources, Zolt’s personal rooms were in the third floor of the estate. If he hadn’t managed to escape, that’s where he’d be. The Lieutenant signaled the two men who were with him and Amon and the four of them moved ahead, making their way towards Zolt while the other eight secured the second floor.

As soon as they emerged on the third floor, they fell under a barrage of fire. Actual fire, not gunfire. Good. Firebenders meant they were probably close to Zolt. The Lieutenant pulled one of Sato’s new grenades and lobbed it in the firebenders’ direction. Moments later, the device exploded in a mass of foam that completely covered the benders. When they tried shooting fire again it didn’t get very far before it was smothered.

Amon strode forward purposefully, not bothering with theatrics as he did down in the foyer. Instead, he quickly and methodically used his bloodbending to break each of the benders’ necks. He approached the room they had emerged from, before quickly sidestepping as a bolt of lightning flew right past him. Once again raising his hand, he held Zolt in place. “Lightning Bolt Zolt,” he said. “We meet at last.”

To his credit, despite being in obvious pain, Zolt didn’t looked afraid. “If you kill me, you’re signing your own death warrant,” he said through gritted teeth. “My men will hunt you down.”

“Why would I kill you?” Amon whispered. “You are not a threat to me. Your resources are depleted. Your network is crippled. Most of your men are dead… or they will be soon.”

“Then what do you want?”

“To take the last bit of power you have left.” Amon forced Zolt to his knees. “Your bending.” He placed his thumb on Zolt’s forehead. Moments later, Zolt keeled over.

The Lieutenant looked at his watch again. 8:21. It was time to go. “Main objective has been accomplished. All units, report back to transport ASAP.” He walked over to Amon, who was still standing over Zolt. “Time to go,” he said.

* * *

 

Back at HQ, in Amon’s private office, Lee ripped the mask off his face.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” He turned to see Noatak standing behind him.

“I told you. I understand the mission. I understand what you have to do.” Besides, the mission had been an unqualified success. They had effectively crippled the city’s most powerful criminal organization in less than ten minutes.

Noatak walked up to him and kissed him lightly. “That didn’t make it any easier, did it?”

“No, it didn’t,” Lee admitted. “But I love you, and I’m seeing this through to the end. So, what now?”

“Now, we begin Phase Two.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Amon/Lieutenant relationship was added partly as a favor to a friend who loves all sorts of fucked-up ships (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE)  
> .....seriously, this girl ships Lapis/Jasper. Like, why?  
> P.S. Next chapter, there's gonna be some more (still platonic, sorry) Korrasami


	10. Welcome to the Team Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I promised myself I'd upload a new chapter this week, and it seems like I came in just under the wire. So... cool.  
> Enjoy!

**Asami**

Right jab. Left jab. Right hook. Weave to the left. Block.

Korra was getting good at this. It had been about a month since the two of them first hung out and in that time, sparring and practicing together had become a regular thing. In that time, Korra had shown an almost scary amount of improvement. Granted, they’d had a lot of time to practice lately; the city’s underworld seemed to be taking something of a break.

That didn’t mean Asami had to be idle. She continued to patrol, sometimes alone, sometimes with Landslide and Wildfire, sometimes with the Avatar at her side. There had even been a few memorable times when the four of them had gone out together. Still, all they ran into was muggers or liquor store hold-ups. Nothing came close to the action they saw that first night.

She was also looking into this new gang they’d faced. Unfortunately, most leads into that had come up empty. Mako had been providing most of the information on them, but since the creation of Saikhan’s task force he’d been getting stonewalled at every turn.

Asami’s own search had yielded some results, however. Reading up on the history of the different martial arts through the ages, she was able to identify the technique used to block Bolin’s bending. Chi-blocking was almost a lost art, but it had been much more prolific thousands of years ago. Back in the days of the mythical Lion Turtles, a full third of the world’s population had been benders, so the non-benders developed a technique to level the playing field. As time passed and benders became rarer, so did chi-blocking. Nowadays, with maybe one in a thousand people having bending of any significant power, the technique was next to useless. Still, Asami had to admit, it had served the thugs well when they needed it.

Asami was quickly brought back to the present by Korra’s fist, which was headed straight for her nose. She ducked under the punch and tried to exploit the opening in Korra’s defense with a jab to the ribs. Sensing it, Korra sidestepped, and taking advantage of Asami’s forward momentum, swept her legs, sending her face-first on to the sparring mat.

“Fuckin’ ow!” Asami sat up rubbing her forehead.

“Sorry. Are you okay?” Korra said, offering her hand to Asami. She took it and Korra pulled her up.

“I’m fine. Nice work!” Asami said, and she meant it. This wasn’t the first time Korra had gotten the better of her, but it was the first time she had done it while Asami was fighting at full strength. Since she stopped holding back about a week ago, this was the first time Korra had emerged the winner. Of course, that didn’t mean that Korra was done. She still had a lot to learn. “What do you say we call it early today?”

“You’re the boss,” Korra replied, unwrapping her hands. “Besides, I’ve got this new piece I’ve been wanting to try out.” It had become tradition for them to smoke a little bit after every sparring session. Asami, however, had something different it mind.

“Why don’t we mix it up a little, today. Maybe go out to a bar or a club or something?”

Korra groaned. “I don’t know, Asami. Clubs aren’t really my scene.”

“C’mon Korra, it’ll be fun! We’ll have some drinks, dance, maybe meet some hot girls…” She wiggled her eyebrows on that last one. “Besides, it’s a special occasion.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Today, you officially graduate from the Asami Sato School of Ass-Kicking.”

“Aww, does that mean we’re not gonna spar anymore?”

“Of course we are. But since you finally managed to take me down, I think that deserves a celebration.”

“Cool. Kicking your ass was fun. I wanna do it more often,” Korra said with a cocky smirk.

Asami punched her arm. “Asshole.”

“I try. So I’m gonna head home, then. I doubt they’re gonna let me in anywhere wearing this,” Korra said, indicating her sweaty workout clothes.

“You sure you don’t want a ride to your place?” Asami asked.

Korra waved her off. “Nah, it’s fine. It’ll be faster if I just go on my own. Pick me up in an hour?”

“You got it.” Korra knows the way out, so Asami made her way to her bedroom. After a quick shower, she stood in her walk-in closet, trying to decide what to wear.

_ Has to be practical, so dresses are out for tonight, _ is her first thought. While sorting through her clothes, she called Mako on her cell phone.

“Hey, Asami.”

“Hey. Is everything ready for tomorrow night?”  _ Not this one, _ she thought as she pushed a maroon skirt aside.

“Yeah, Bo and I will be there. But don’t you think it’s a little soon? She’s only been working with us for a month.”

“And she’s proven herself multiple times during the course of that month,” Asami replied, tossing aside a particularly ugly pair of puke-green pants.  _ Why do I even own these? _

“I’m just saying we don’t know enough about her. What if she’s up to something? This thing we do is dangerous, Asami, we have to be careful about who we trust.”

“Mako, she knows who I am, where I live, and has been alone with me and no other witnesses multiple times. If she wanted to hurt me, she’s had plenty of opportunities to do it. Besides,  _ you’re _ the last person who gets to complain about it, considering you’re the reason she knows my identity in the first place!”

She heard a sigh on the other end of the line. “You’re right, I’m sorry. I just want you to be sure about this.”

“Listen Mako, I went behind Korra’s back and told you who she was. I betrayed a friend’s trust so that your paranoid ass could run your stupid background check. So tell me, did you find anything?”

“Not really. Everything matches up with what she’s told you. The Chief of the Southern Water Tribe does have a twenty-one-year-old daughter named Korra who’s a freshman at RCU. I just wish there was a public picture or something, just to confirm it.”

_ Aha!  _ Asami though as she pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans. “So there you go. Besides, if Korra  _ were  _ some nefarious sleeper agent, don’t you think she would’ve picked something slightly less conspicuous than daughter of a world leader as a cover?”

“Fair point,” Mako admitted. There was silence from his end as he thought things through. “Alright, Asami, I’ll trust you. We’re on for tomorrow.”

“Glad to hear it,” Asami replied and hung up.

She slipped on the jeans, followed by a red shirt, and threw her Future Industries jacket over it. She then picked out a pair of shoes with a slight heel, and checked herself in the mirror.  _ Good enough _ . She walked over to her vanity and quickly applied her usual mascara, lipstick and eyeshadow. Finally she grabbed her purse before making her way down to the garage.

It took her ten minutes to drive to Korra’s dorm building. She pulled out her phone and sent a text.

_ Hey, I’m right outside _

_ Not ready yet, sorry. 5 mins. Come up if you want, room 402,  _ was the reply.

Not wanting to just wait in her car, Asami got out and took the stairs up to the fourth floor of the building. She found the door marked 402 and knocked.

“Hi,” said the person who answered the door. “You’re Asami, right?”

The girl was short (compared to Asami, anyways), with green eyes, and a bob haircut. “Right. And I’m guessing you’re Opal.”

“The one and only. Come in.” Asami walked into the dorm room. It was… cozy was a nice way of putting it. Tiny would be more accurate. It had two small beds, two small desks, a few bookshelves with books and papers crammed everywhere, and there were clothes strewn all over the floor, which, judging by the amount of blue, were mostly Korra’s.

“Hey assbutt, your girlfriend’s here!” Opal called into what Asami guessed was the bathroom.

“Oh no, we’re not--”

“Relax, I know. It’s just fun to mess with her.”

The door to the bathroom opened a bit and Korra stuck her head out. “For the last fucking time Opal, Asami’s not my-- Oh hey, ‘Sami. Be right out.” Her head ducked back in and she shut the door.

“See what I mean? Too easy.” Asami chuckled at that. She had to admit, riling Korra up could be fun.

The next couple of minutes were spent chatting with Opal. Asami learned that Opal was a Zaofu native, an architecture major and she had met Korra while taking a tour of the university over the summer. They had hit it off and decided to room together their freshman year. “We kind of bonded over starting college late,” Opal said. “I took a year off after high school to just backpack around the Earth Kingdom, to figure out what I wanted to do with my life.”

Just then, Korra came out of the bathroom. She was dressed simply in white jeans and a blue flannel shirt with a tank top underneath. “Ready,” she announced.

“Really?” Opal asked. “That’s what you’re going out in?”

Korra looked down at her outfit. “Yeah… what’s wrong with it?”

Opal groaned. “You are such a fucking stereotype, I swear.”

“Jerk,” Korra said with a grin.

“You love me.”

“Fuck knows why. So Asami, ready to go?”

Asami hesitated. The polite thing would be to ask Opal to go with them. Problem was, that would mess with her plans for the night. Still, she could always postpone  _ that _ for some other time. “Yeah. Opal, you want to come along?”

“No thanks, I have an assignment I have to get done. Besides, I wouldn’t want to be a third wheel.”

“Oh my god, shut up!” Korra said, herding Asami out the door. “Let’s just go.”

* * *

 

“I gotta say, this is not what I expected,” Korra said.

Asami drank a sip from her beer before replying. “And what did you expect?”

“Someplace fancy with top shelf liquor. Or somewhere with loud techno music and overpriced drinks. I don’t know, just not… this.”

The bar they were in was the definition of blue-collar. Small, out-of-the-way, with a worn look that gave it a certain charm. It was on the fringe of the city’s industrial district, and every night it was filled with people looking to unwind after a day’s work. Korra and Asami were seated n a corner booth, working on their second round of beers. “Is there anything wrong with my choice of venue?”

“Not really, no. But you did promise me hot girls. And, present company excluded, I don’t see any hot girls.” Korra’s eyes did a scan of the room. “Actually, make that no girls, period. And I know I may not be the best judge of this, but I don’t think there are any hot guys here either.”

Asami laughed. “Don’t worry, this isn’t our only stop of the night. Although I do have to come clean about something.” She examined her glass and noted that she still had about a third of her beer left. Perfect. “This isn’t so much your graduation party as it is your final exam.”

Korra didn’t answer, merely raising her eyebrows. “Come with me,” Asami said.

Asami had chosen this particular bar for a reason. Go any classier, and she’d risk the police being called. Any seedier, and she risked someone pulling out a knife, or even a gun. But in this place, a decent bar brawl was an expected and welcome part of the night. Hell, the winners often bought the losers consolation drinks afterwards.

Beer glass in hand, Asami walked along the bar, looking for a suitable candidate, with Korra trailing close behind. Near the end, she noticed a man who looked like he had some decent muscle on him. Probably a steel worker. She walked up  behind him and poured what was left of her beer on his head.

While he was shaking himself off, Asami turned around and pressed the now-empty glass into Korra’s hand. “Remember, no bending,” she whispered. “You don’t want to give yourself away.”

The Big Guy turned around to see a sheepish Korra holding an empty beer glass. “Hey buddy,” she said. “You wanna maybe talk abou-- whoa!” Korra ducked under a punch the Big Guy sent her way and immediately countered with a jab to the ribs. She sidestepped a follow-up kick and followed it with a leg sweep, causing the Big Guy to lose his balance and stumble into the bar.

Two other burly-looking men, presumably the Big Guy’s friends came to his aid. Korra dodged their attacks almost effortlessly. These two were clearly already half in the bag. Still, their involvement caused another two patrons to jump in the fray on Korra’s side, evening the odds. It wasn’t too long before the entire bar was one big battlefield.

Asami watched all this from back in her booth occasionally taking a drink from Korra’s abandoned beer. She was doing well, Asami noted with no small amount of pride. She caught on pretty early that the game was to incapacitate and not to hurt, so she attacked only when she needed to. And she hadn’t been tagged once, carefully weaving through all of her opponents’ attacks.

That seemed about to change, however, as a large man managed to come up behind Korra and grab her in a bear hug, pinning her arms at her sides. Korra wouldn’t be able to get out of that. It didn’t matter that the guy was drunk, uncoordinated and fifty pounds overweight. The laws of physics were on his side. It was time to get involved.

Asami delivered a precise strike under the ribs, just hard enough to wind the guy, causing him to let go of Korra.

“Thanks,” she said.

“One of the most important rules of combat,” Asami replied. “ _ Never _ let an opponent with a weight advantage get ahold of you.”

“I’ll keep it in mind. Shall we?” They jumped back into the fray.

* * *

 

Half an hour later, the two women were the only ones still in fighting shape. After the initial brawl ended, allies began turning on each other until only one (or in this case, two) emerged victorious.

“Barkeep,” Asami announced, slamming several bills down on the bar. “A round of drinks for everyone, on me.”

Muffled cheers were heard, as almost everyone in the bar was nursing a black eye or a bloody nose. Nevertheless, everyone in the bar was gracious, thanking Asami, even if more than a couple of them did leave muttering something about “being beaten by a couple of girls.”

Asami bought three more rounds for the entire bar, before she and Korra stumbled outside. “Well, that was fun,” Korra said.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“If all of my exams were like this, I’d probably do better in school. So, where to next?”

Asami thought for a moment before speaking. “How about you choose where we go next?”

“Alright,” Korra replied. “I know just the place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Snarky Opal is Best Opal.  
> Also, the bar brawl was one of the first scenes I came up with when I started to write this fic. I'm glad I finally got it down. Also, the way Asami started the fight was inspired by the Justice League animated series episode Comfort and Joy. If any of you haven't seen JL and JLU, I highly recommend them.


	11. Welcome to the Team Pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> a.k.a. A Day in the Life of a Hungover Korra

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know. I was tempted to put a "NOT ABANDONING THIS STORY" notice a while back, but I didn't want to tease any subscribers who would get a notification for a new chapter only to get... that. So let me say now what I didn't say then. No, I'm not abandoning this story, I'm finishing it if it kills me. I have way too many ideas for this universe to just let it die. It's just that life sometimes gets in the way, y'know? I'm really sorry it took so long, but hey, at least this chapter's the longest yet. That kinda makes up for it, right? (No, no it doesn't.) Anywho, enjoy, and if you've stuck around this long, please leave a comment.

**Korra**

She opened her eyes for a split second before the sun coming in through a window forced them shut again.

“Son of a _motherfuck_ ,” she muttered, raising a hand to her aching head. Korra must've drunk _a lot_ if she had a hangover this bad. She was from the Southern Water Tribe, for crying out loud! Being able to hold her liquor was a point of national pride!

Groaning, she pulled a blanket over her head and tried to roll over… until she hit something. A warm something. Korra was in bed with someone who, judging by the amount of bare back she could feel, was naked, or at the very least topless. A quick examination of her own body revealed Korra wasn't wearing much of anything either.

Shit. She couldn’t remember going home with anyone. Although, to be fair, most of the previous night was kind of a blur at that point.

Korra opened her eyes again, squinting against the sun’s glare. She noticed pretty quickly that she was most definitely _not_ in her dorm room, so that was good. Opal would've never let her live it down if she brought a girl home with no warning. Her mind a little clearer and her eyes adjusting to the light, Korra turned to look at the girl lying next to her. And all the memories came rushing back.

* * *

 

After leaving the first bar, Korra had led Asami to a small college pub about a mile outside the campus. There they had a few drinks, played a game of pool (which Asami won), then Korra demanded a rematch (which Asami won), had more drinks and played a third game of pool (which Korra won… barely).

After that, they got to drinking in earnest, starting with vodka, then rum, then something Korra couldn’t even name. Occasionally they had to fend off guys who came up to hit on them, although Korra wasn't sure if Asami was actually not interested, or just turning them down in solidarity.

Well into the night, Korra had stumbled up to the bar to get the next round of drinks (she insisted, Asami having paid for the last few rounds), and came back to find Asami talking to a guy. She marched over there with the intention to scare the guy away, when she noticed there was a third person at their table. A girl with short brown hair.

“Hi, I’m Adi,” she said as she saw Korra approaching.

“Uh…” _Pretty girl… say something, idiot!_ “Korra.” Wow. The alcohol must’ve been hitting her harder than she thought.

“The big lug with your friend is my cousin Shaozu. I can reel him in if you guys are having a girl’s night or whatever.”

Korra glanced at Asami who seemed… amused at whatever Shaozu was saying. “If Asami doesn’t mind, I don’t mind.” If she actually liked this guy, who was Korra to deny her that? Besides, Adi was pretty hot, even if her being into girls was unlikely. Seeing that Asami already had another drink (courtesy of Shaozu, probably) Korra offered hers to Adi.

“Thanks,” she said taking a sip. “So what brings you here?”

“We’re kind of, um, celebrating.”

“Celebrating what?”

“It’s stupid but... well, Asami’s been training me in martial arts and today was the first time I managed to beat her. She’s calling it my ‘graduation party.’”

Korra noticed how Adi’s eyes slowly trailed downward and then quickly went back up. Had she been checking her out? “So you work out a lot?”

“Uh-- I--” Korra stammered. “A bit. So, um, what about you guys?”

“Shaozu’s visiting from out of town and he insisted I take him out tonight. He thinks I’m the perfect wingwoman, since I’m bi and ‘have been on both sides,’ whatever the hell that means.”

So that settles that, then. “Nice of you to humor him.”

“I know, right?”

From there they got to talking some more. And drinking some more. Which led to flirting, which let to kissing, which led to… other stuff.

Which brought her to where she was right now. Problem was, Korra had no idea what to do next. Did she wake Adi up? Wait until she woke up? Or should she just sneak out? Crap. This was her first one-night stand, alright? The movers never covered this!

 _It’s fine, just relax. Just breathe… brea--fuck!_ Tenzin. She had meditation with Tenzin. She had no idea what time it was, and she doubted alcohol-induced stupor led to early mornings. Well, at least the decision was made for her. She had to get out and make her way to Air Temple Island as soon as possible and hope that Tenzin didn’t kill her. The man had a thing about punctuality.

Careful not to disturb Adi, she got out bed and began searching for her clothes, which were all over the floor. Korra was nearly dressed, she just had to find a shoe when she heard Adi stir. “Morning,” she said. “You’re taking off?”

“Yeah, sorry. I have a thing in…” Korra fished her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. It was five past ten. She sighed. “five minutes ago. It's a work thing.” That was _technically_ true. Tenzin _was_ her boss. And besides “work thing” sounded better than “I'm trying to talk to the giant glowing kite who gives me my superpowers.”

“Yeesh, good luck with that.” Adi reached for a bottle of water on her bedside table and tossed it at Korra. “You might need that.”

“Thanks. D’you know how to get to the docks from here?”

“Yeah, we’re actually pretty close. Just turn right once you’re outside and head straight for a few blocks.”

Korra nodded. “Well, um… ‘bye. And sorry, again.”

Adi just laughed. “Relax, we went to a bar and hooked up. It’s not like I was expecting breakfast in bed or anything. But I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah.” With one last wave, Korra made her way out of the bedroom and onto the street. Her mouth felt like a desert so she cracked open the bottle Adi gave her and drank it all down.

True to Adi’s word, Korra found the docks after about ten minutes of walking. She considered just waterbending her way across the bay to Air Temple Island, but it was too crowded, and she couldn’t risk someone seeing her. So the ferry it was.

Once on board, Korra forced herself to relax. It was just a fifteen-minute ride to the island, and she'd been late before she even set out anyway. If Tenzin was pissed, then he was pissed.

She pulled out her phone to distract herself, when she noticed she had missed a call from Asami, so she dialed her back.

“Goooood morning!” was Asami’s way-too-chipper reply.

“Morning,” Korra muttered.

“How are you feeling?”

“Like my head got run over by several trucks.”

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Asami replied, “considering the amount of alcohol you drank last night. It was pretty impressive, to be honest.”

“Southern liver, works twice as hard. And why exactly aren’t you on the verge of death? You were matching me drink for drink!”

“Yeah, about that. I… might’ve switched to virgins and water after a while.”

“You _dick!”_

“Sorry! To be fair, I _was_ driving. _And_ I was keeping an eye on you, if that makes you feel any better.”

“I hate you so much right now,” Korra groaned, rubbing her forehead. “You know, I kind of freaked out a little this morning. I couldn’t remember where I was right away.”

“You were with that girl, right? Adi?”

“Yeah.”

“She was cute. So are you gonna see her again?”

“I don’t know,” Korra sighed. “I remembered I had to be a Tenzin’s so I hightailed it out of there. I didn’t even get her number or anything. You think I should’ve?”

“What are you asking me for?”

“It was my first time going home with someone I met at a bar. I don’t know the protocol!”

“Well, one hook-up still puts you one ahead of me.”

“So last night, with that guy--”

“I sent him packing about five minutes after you left.”

Korra felt a stab of guilt. It was still a little fuzzy, but she remembered that part of the reason she agreed to leave with Adi was because Asami and Shaozu seemed to be hitting it off. “Oh. Sorry, then. For ditching you.”

“Don't worry about it. The important thing is that you had a good time. You did, right?”

“Yeah, it was great! The bits I can remember, anyways.” A horn sounded, indicating that the ferry was about to dock. “Hey, the we I just got to Air Temple Island, so I gotta go. Talk to you later?”

“Before you you go, I wanted to tell there’s a book club meeting tonight. Think you’re gonna be able to make it?”

“Book club” was the code they had for their superhero activities. “Sure, I’ll just take a nap or something, get rid of this headache.”

“Are you sure? We can reschedule.”

“It’s alright. We haven’t had a meeting in a while. I’ll be there.”

“Okay. Well, it’s at nine. Just let yourself in through the backdoor, and don’t forget your book this time.” That meant go in through the Cave and already in her suit.

“Cool. I’ll see you tonight.”

“See ya.”

Korra hung up and, once the ferry finished docking, made her way up to the main house and into the women’s dressing rooms. She still thought it was weird that she had to be dressed in a specific way in order to meditate, but it was Tenzin’s rule so she didn’t argue… much.

She had just pulled her pants on when she heard the door open. “You’re late.”

Korra turned to see Jinora, Tenzin’s eldest daughter, standing in the doorway. “Sorry, I went out last night. Your dad’s not mad, is he?”

“He’s meditating, so he’s pretty zen right now, but no promises once that’s over.”

“Fair enough,” Korra said, shrugging off her shirt. Jinora’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly, but in less than a second her expression was neutral again. Weird.

“So, when are you taking me with you?”

“What, to like bars and stuff? Turn eighteen first, and then we’ll talk.”

“Not what I meant, and you know it.”

“Jinora, setting aside the fact that your dad would literally murder me in my sleep if I ever put you in that kind of danger, you just can’t. You know why.”

Jinora’s grandfather Aang had been known as the Last Airbender, the rest having been killed during the course of the Hundred-Year War. A title that Jinora had inherited. While she wasn’t technically the _only_ airbender (the rest of her family sans Pema, as well as several people with Air Nomad blood had some control over the element), she was the only who was known to have super-level powers. If a hero who looked a lot like her suddenly started blowing criminals away all over town, it wouldn’t take people very long to put two and two together.

“Besides,” Korra continued, “what about that security program you’ve been working on? You told me it was almost ready.”

In addition to a master airbender, Jinora was also a genius with anything electronic. Once Tenzin got elected mayor and had to renounce his Luddite ways, he finally bought a computer for the island. At eight years old, Jinora took to it like a fish to water. Within weeks she was writing basic programs, and by the time she was twelve, she could break into a lot of secure systems. Disappointed in not being able to find a firewall that could stop her, she decided to build her own. Typical of her, really. She finds a way to break the rules, and the next thing she does is find a way to make it harder.

“It _is_ ready, I just can’t get anyone to buy it. Everytime I try to present it to some company they blow me off. No one wants to listen to a teenager.”

“Have you tried Future Industries?” Korra asked as she tugged on the top of her meditation outfit.

“Future Industries doesn’t do software, Korra.”

“Maybe not, but I’m sure they’d like the best security for their systems. Trust me, they won’t turn you away because of you’re young. Their CEO is, like, my age.”

“Yeah, but she’s _Asami Sato_. She’s super smart and super talented, not to mention flipping gorg--” Jinora cut herself off, blushing.

Korra smirked. “Your crush is showing. Besides, don’t you have a boyfriend?”

“Kai is _not_ my boyfriend!” Jinora said, although Korra caught a very frustrated “yet” that Jinora muttered under her breath.

“Well, if he doesn’t get his ass in gear soon, you could always ask _him_ out. Besides, you have a better chance with Kai than with Asami. I think she might be a little too old for you.”

Jinora scoffed. “Six years isn’t _that_ much of an age difference.” Easy for her to say, considering Tenzin had over a decade on Pema.

“It is when you’re sixteen. Anyway, I better get going before Tenzin pops a blood vessel. Just promise me you’ll think about Future Industries?”

“Fine, I promise.”

With that settled, Korra left the comforting dimness of the changing room and back into the bright sunlight. Squinting, she slowly trudged over to the meditation pavilion, where her mentor already was, sitting peacefully with his eyes closed.

“You’re late,” Tenzin said without opening his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, Jinora already chewed me out.” Tenzin didn’t reply, merely raising an eyebrow. “Fine, I’m sorry, I had a bit of a late night.”

Tenzin finally deigned to open his eyes, concern lining his face. “Korra, I know you think being the Avatar and protecting the city is important, and it is. But you have to take care of yourself as well. Staying out all night won’t do you any favors.”

“I’ll, uh… keep that in mind.” If Tenzin thought she was doing Avatar stuff instead of going out drinking, she wasn’t going to be the one to correct him.

“Good. Now, shall we get started?”

Korra took a seat in the lotus position next to Tenzin, and tried not to fall asleep while the man droned on about clearing her mind and reaching out with her spirit. Since she hadn’t been able to get in touch with Raava, while fully awake and alert, she wasn’t exactly holding her breath about today being the day. Still, it seemed like an eternity had passed before Tenzin was gently shaking her awake.

“Korra?’

“Wuh--?” Shit. She’d dozed off.

“Korra, if you’re not going to take this seriously--” Tenzin began.

“I am, I swear!” Korra cut him off “I just had a rough night, that’s all.”

Tenzin sighed. “Alright, although I see little point in going on if you’re just going to nod off again. You’re off the hook for today.”

“Thanks Tenzin,” Korra said. “Next week I’ll be here one hundred percent, I promise.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Feeling slightly better after her unconventional power nap, Korra jogged back to the changing rooms, put her clothes back on and a ferry ride and two bus rides later, she was _finally_ standing outside her dorm. However, as she went to open the door, she hesitated. Going inside meant facing _her_. Still, if she was going to be ready for tonight, she needed sleep. There was no getting around it.

“Looks like _someone_ had a good night,” is the first thing Opal tells her when she walks through the door.

“Good morning to you too, asshole,” Korra replied. Opal was seated on her bed, staring at Korra, pretty obviously trying not to burst out laughing. “What?”

“Have you looked in a mirror today?”

“No, why?”

“You might want to, that’s all.”

Korra went into their dorm’s ensuite bathroom to take a look at herself. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes were slightly bloodshot and had bags under them. Yeah, she looked like shit, but that wasn’t exactly surprising. No, the surprise came when she looked a little lower and saw a very noticeable hickey on her neck. Tenzin probably hadn’t seen it (thank god for air acolyte outfits and their high collars), but Jinora… goddammit. She stormed out of the bathroom to see Opal shaking in silent laughter.

“So,” she managed after a while, “Asami give you that?”

Korra sighed. This again. “For the last time, Opal, Asami’s just a friend. And not that it’s any of your business, but no, it was a girl I met last night at a bar.”

“And?”

“I spent the night at her place.”

“You suck at at this,” Opal groaned. “ _Details,_ woman!”

“What? Why?”

“Because, I haven’t gotten laid in forever and since _you_ managed to get lucky for some reason, my only choice is to live vicariously through you.”

“Uh, Ope, you realize I only sleep with women, right? Like, exclusively?”

Opal just shrugged. “Eh, it’s college. I’m allowed to have an experimental phase.”

“A vicarious experimental phase?”

Another shrug. “Why not?”

“Well, as much as I’d like to regale you with stories of my sexual prowess, I have a massive hangover, so I’m gonna sleep it off.” Korra flopped onto her bed, immediately burying her face in her pillow. Heaven.

“Welp, I’m out,” Opal said, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. “Dealing with your snoring is bad enough when I have to, so I’m sure as shit not staying here.”

Knowing that was asshole-talk for “I’m leaving so you can sleep in peace,” Korra sent her a grateful smile. “Thanks. Oh, and Opal?”

“Yeah?”

“If you ever want to make your experimental phase a little less vicarious you let me know,” Korra said with a cheesy wink.

Opal just sputtered at that, and satisfied that she got the last word in (for once), Korra rolled over and promptly fell asleep.

* * *

 

By the time Korra woke up, the sun had begun to set. Good news was her hangover was gone. Better news, Opal hadn’t come back. That meant she could change into her Avatar suit in the comfort of her dorm room.

Checking her phone, she saw she still had a couple of hours to kill before the meeting, so she used them to do a quick sweep of the city. Fortunately, the city seemed quiet tonight. Eventually, she headed toward the Sato Manor and let herself in through the Cave’s secret entrance near the back of the grounds.

The inside of the cave was pitch-black. She’d been here a couple of times already (granted she’d been with Asami those times), and it had always been brightly illuminated. Maybe she was early? But no, checking her cheap digital watch (she couldn’t exactly bring her phone on patrol, could she?) it was already three minutes past nine. And if there was anyone who was more of a stickler for punctuality than Tenzin, it was Asami.

“As--Tempest? You in here? Wildfire? Landslide?” Asami hadn’t told her whether the guys would be there, but whenever she and Tempest teamed up, they tagged along more often than not.

“AT LAST YOU ARRIVE, AVATAR!” came a booming voice from the speakers. Distorted, but recognizable.

“Landslide, is that you? Where are you guys?”

“I DO NOT KNOW THIS LANDSLIDE YOU SPEAK OF. YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED HERE TO--” The voice was cut off by the sound of someone laughing in the background. “Aw, c’mon Tempest, I was nailing that!”

“You’ll have to excuse him, Avatar,” said Wildfire. “He likes the dramatics. We’re over here.”

The lights switched on, and Korra could see Asami and her team at the other end of the Cave, standing around a small conference table.

“So, what _is_ the deal with all the dramatics?” Korra asked, taking a place at the table.

“Well, the three of us have given it some thought,” Tempest began. “Since you arrived in the city, crime has gone down.”

“Also, since we’ve had you backing us up, we’ve had way less injuries,” Wildfire said.

“Not to mention you kick massive amounts of ass all on your own,” Landslide added.

“Basically what we’re saying is, we’d like you to officially join our team,” Tempest finished.

“Holy shit, really?” Korra could barely stop herself from giddily jumping up and down. “Holy shit. I mean, yeah. Hell yeah!”

Korra was beyond excited. Well, sure, they’d let her tag along before, and she did hang out with Asami a lot, but this was still huge. She’d actually be part of a real super-team! She’d dreamed of this day since the day she discovered comic books!

“Alright, just a couple of preliminary things, then we can move on to the blood sacrifice,” Asami said.

Korra’s giddiness came crashing down hard. “Wait, the what, now?”

Asami smiled. “Sorry, but I needed you to calm down. You were practically vibrating. Although there are a couple of things we need to do before you officially join.”

“This team is built on trust,” Landslide chimed in, “Wildfire, Tempest and I all know each other's’ identities. If you feel like you can’t trust us with this, you can just leave, no harm, no foul.We’ll even still tag along with you if we run into each other on patrol.”

Korra thought about it for a moment. Asami already knew her identity, and thanks to that, she’d gained one of her best friends. If these two were good enough for Asami, she figured they were good enough for her. “Alright, I’m in. If Tempest… if Asami trusts you, so do I.”

Asami breathed out an audible sigh of relief. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

Wildfire went first, reaching up and pulling of his mask. “My name is Mako Shih, and I’m a detective with RCPD when I’m not doing, well… this. And I have a confession to make.” He glanced at Asami, who gave him a small nod. “I wanted to do background check on you before we let you into the team and…”

“And so, I told him who you were,” Aami finished. “I’m sorry. I know it was a shitty thing to do, and if you change your mind about joining us because of this I’ll completely understand and--”

“Hey,” Korra interrupted, placing a comforting hand on Asami’s arm. She hoped her smile didn’t look too forced. “I get it. I’m not gonna pretend I’m thrilled about it, but… I get it. You have to protect your team, right?”

Asami smiled back at her, which in turn made Korra’s genuine. “So does that mean…”

“Yes, I still wanna join.”

“Awesome! Well, I guess I’m next,” Landslide said as he removed his mask. “Bolin Shih, currently a freelancer with the Republic City Chronicle, and this one’s brother.” He jabbed his thumb in Wildf--Mako’s direction.

Brothers who could bend different elements, huh? That was interesting. The only other siblings Korra knew like that were Tenzin and Kya.

“Alright, I guess mine’s mostly ceremonial, since everyone in this room already knows who I am, but...” Asami took off her cowl, letting her hair fall free. “Asami Sato, CEO of Future Industries.”

“Best for last, huh?” Korra said as she took off her helmet. “My name is Korra Sikku of the Southern Water Tribe, and I’m a student at RCU.” She set her helmet down on the table. “Alright, now that that’s over with, what next?”

“Now, we give you this,” Asami said, handing Korra a small square package. Korra ripped it open.

“A cell phone? I already have one these, you know.”

“It’s a communicator,” Asami explained. “Direct line to all three of us, as well as a few contacts we have throughout the city. It’ll also get you into any of our safehouses, and it has an earpiece you can attach to your helmet for use in the field. Don’t lose it.”

“Alright, so it’s a super fancy, super advanced cell phone,” Korra said with a smirk. “That’s cool, I guess.”

“Well, I guess all there is to say is, welcome to the team.” Mako stuck his hand out and Korra shook it.

“Group hug time!” Bolin yelled. He wrapped one arm around Asami and the other around Mako. Korra just stared for a moment before shrugging and joining in.

“So now that you’re officially a member, are you ready for our first team outing?” Asami asked.

“You know it,” Korra replied as she put her helmet back on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adi and Shaozu are actually characters in the show. They're the firebenders for the Rabaroos and the Wolfbats, respectively.  
> Also I know that Ikki is the fandom's designated "most likely to be queer" airbaby, but I really liked bi Jinora with a hopeless crush on Asami from Silk's Raava Academy, so I ~~stole~~ borrowed it.


End file.
